For this very first lecture in the Ouvertures series, Itay Lotem, holder of the EHESS/Iméra Chair in Transregional Studies 2025-2026, presents his research and examines the anti-racist turnaround of the 2000s. Registration is required to attend this conference.
Extract from the cover of The Memory of Colonialism in Britain and France by Itay Lotem. Photo credit: Finnbarr Webster / Contributor.
The anti-racist turn of the 2000s between colonial memory and the “race question”
Over the past three decades, public debate in France has incorporated – often in a confrontational and violent manner – issues that were previously ignored or taboo, including the colonial past and the question of race. These debates have frequently been triggered by interventions from anti-racist social movements, then fuelled by the reflections of researchers, the violent reactions of a rising extreme right and a surge in public interest.
This conference looks at the roots of this shift, focusing on the history of anti-racism in the 2000s. What are the priorities of the new anti-racist organisations that emerged in the 2000s, such as the “Indigènes de la République” movement and the “Brigade anti-négrophobie”, and how did they link the colonial past with the issue of race to transform the perception of anti-racism in France? So how can we assess the anti-racist turnaround of the 2000s?
This conference will be chaired by Judith Scheele, Director of Studies at EHESS.
Practical information
- Date: Thursday, November 13th, 2025 from 5.30 pm to 7.30 pm
- Venue: Maison des Astronomes conference room, Iméra, 2 place Leverrier 13004 Marseille
- Language: this conference is in French.
- The room can only accommodate 50 people. Registration is therefore mandatory.
This conference is the first in a series of three conferences to be held at the rate of one per month between November 2025 and January 2026. The next conferences will take place :
- Thursday, December 11th, 2025: My love affair with cancer: exploring the disease through comics by Josune Urrutia Asua, artist, illustrator and cartoonist.
- Thursday, January 15th, 2026: The price of democracy – Globalisation, economic crises and political change: a historical perspective by Asensio Robles-Lopez, Adjunct Professor at the Pontifical University of Comillas, Madrid, Spain.
These meetings will continue in the second half of the year (between February 2026 and June 2026) with three new residents.
About the Ouvertures lecture series
The Ouvertures lecture series is aimed at teacher-researchers, doctoral students and curious and passionate citizens, with the firm intention of keeping open and bright a space of intelligence, curiosity and collective discovery in an increasingly dark age, in which these kinds of spaces are shrinking or disappearing.
In the Ouvertures lectures, international scientists and artists in residence at Iméra will offer an insight into their research on sensitive subjects, conducted without taboos and with honesty.
