World War I gave colonial migrants and French women
unprecedented access to the workplaces and nightlife of
Paris. After the war they were expected to return
without protest to their homes, both metropolitan and
overseas. Neither group, however, was willing to be
discarded. Between the world wars, the mesmerizing
capital of France's colonial empire attracted denizens
from Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States. Paris
became not merely their home but also a site for
political engagement. "Colonial Metropolis" tells the
story of the interactions and connections of these black
colonial migrants and white feminists in the social,
cultural, and political world of interwar Paris, and of
how both were denied certain rights lauded by the Third
Republic, such as the vote, suffered from sensationalist
depictions in popular culture, and pursued parity in
ways that were often interpreted as subversive. This
compelling book maps the intellectual and physical
locales that the disenfranchised residents of Paris
frequented, revealing where their stories intersected
and how the personal and local became political and
transnational. With a focus on art, culture, politics,
and society, this study reveals how both groups
considered themselves inhabitants of a colonial
metropolis and uncovers the strategies they used to
colonize the city. Together, through the politics of
anti-imperialism, communism, feminism, and masculinity,
these urbanites connected performances of colonial and
feminine tropes, such as Josephine Baker's, to
contestations of the colonial system.
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