Performing the Unfinished Work of Memory: The French Atlantic Triangle Reimagined

Safoi Babana-Hampton, professor of French, presentation drew on an ongoing research project attending to the socially and politically transformative force of transatlantic cultural and artistic interventions that creatively engage with the legacies of the French transatlantic slave trade, in a remarkably changing political climate spurred by the passing of what came to be known as the Taubira Law in France, which recognizes slavery as crimes against humanity. This study examines the notable role played by contemporary French transatlantic cultural alliances and artistic dialogues in shaping public discourse and policy vis-à-vis France’s history of slavery and considers the important ways in which it speaks to issues of performance of historical justice as it relates to the experience of black French minorities today.