Description
The goal of this project is to highlight how the French football team is representative of identity politics in France. The idea of what it means to be French is controversial and heavily debated, as France has a very complex colonial history leading to a mixed-race/mixed-ethnic society. Post World War II anti-racist legislation demonstrates that a majority of France’s racial problems stem from an extreme commitment to color-blindness and late and unfocused laws that allow for loopholes regarding discrimination. Analysis of decolonial literature shows that France’s colonial history used soccer/football as a colonizing method, which in turn led to the manifestation of intersectional French hyphenated identities to be present within its own social structure and specifically in its own national team. Players such as Zinedine Zidane and Lilian Thuram demonstrate the complexity of playing for the former colonial superpower of France by vocalizing their identities as French but also other while continuing to wear the tri-color badge. Racism and xenophobia directed towards the national team highlight how France still has a long way to go in recognizing the entirety of its colonial history and complicate the idea of what it means to be French. As France incorporates more players of various ethnic and sometimes national origin into its national team, the acknowledgement of hyphenated identities within its borders becomes even more critical, for their soccer team on the world’s biggest stage should be representative of France’s diverse society.
Team
Members
Student:
Zachary Moore
Supervisor:
Joseph Winters
Multicultural/Identity, Race & Equity, Sports