Empire on the Seine: The Policing of North Africans in Paris, 1925-1975

The origins of contemporary conflicts between minorities and the police in France can be traced back to the country's history of race and empire, according to Amit Prakash's book Empire on the Seine. He argues that the métropole and the colony co-developed a policing regime to manage colonial and racial difference, and that this policing became a key state practice in imagining and administering the immigrant population after World War I. Prakash's research shows that colonial racism was integrated into the policing of Paris, and that architecture, urbanism, and social housing assumed police functions for colonial and postcolonial migrants. This history explains the current social and racial segregation, periodic protests and rioting against police violence, and the aggressive posture of the Parisian police.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 15 March 2022
Publisher: Oxford University Press

The relationship between minorities and the police in France has been a complex and often fraught issue, with its roots dating back to the country's history. While some may argue that this tension is a recent phenomenon caused by the presence of North African immigrants, Amit Prakash challenges this notion by tracing the origins of contemporary conflicts in race and empire in France's past. In his book "Empire on the Seine," Prakash argues that the métropole (Paris) and the colony (North Africa) co-developed a policing regime over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to manage colonial and racial difference.

With the North African community emerging as a sizable and durable presence in Paris after World War I, this policing became a key state practice in imagining and administering the immigrant population. Prakash's research reveals that despite the French state's current reluctance to use race as an official category, racial thought and racial targets animated police services, social services, and urban planning schemes from the 1920s until the 1970s. Through a comprehensive analysis of police archival records, reports from colonial officials, urban planning and housing studies, and the records of French social workers and immigrant associations, Prakash demonstrates that colonial racism was deeply integrated into the policing of Paris. Architecture, urbanism, and social housing assumed police functions for colonial and postcolonial migrants, perpetuating social and racial segregation.

In light of this history, contemporary social and racial segregation, periodic protests and rioting against police violence, and the aggressive posture of the Parisian police emerge as the material traces of French colonialism in the métropole. The city of Paris was the capital of an empire, and its imperial shadows are long, shaping the way minorities and the police interact in France today. It is essential to acknowledge and address these historical legacies to promote greater understanding and harmony between different communities in France.

Weight: 576g
Dimension: 164 x 240 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780192898876