Contribution short abstract:

With this paper, I discuss ongoing research that I am undertaking with a colleague of mine, Khalil Habrih, a sociologist based in France and Canada, on histories of violence in contemporary Paris.

Contribution long abstract:

With this paper, I discuss ongoing research that I am undertaking with a colleague of mine, Khalil Habrih, a sociologist based in France and Canada, on histories of violence in contemporary Paris. With this paper, I discuss ongoing research that I am undertaking with a colleague of mine, Khalil Habrih, a sociologist based in France and Canada, on histories of violence in contemporary Paris. We consider the various ways in which colonial and postcolonial forms of governmentality and the police in France affect the lives – and psychic life – of residents of north Paris. Of particular concern are the ways in which various kinds of violence – from painful memories of the French colonial regime in North Africa to police harassment and humiliating stops-and-searches of young men in north Paris- leave traces and “wounds” among marginalized residents of Paris, which mark the psychic life of peoples and communities. With this discussion I will be drawing from a forthcoming book, co-authored with Khalil Habrih, titled "Traces of Violence: Writings on the Disaster in Paris, France" (University of California Press; fall 2021).