Un regard blanc sur la France noire: le « facteur racial » dans Les Petits de Christine Angot

Abstract

Are African or Caribbean authors the exclusive authority and source when it comes to the representation of Black France? Since the 1990s, many critics have engaged with the notion of France noire, thus contributing to establishing its importance to the study of contemporary France from a postcolonial perspective. Although they have brilliantly explored issues of blackness in the Hexagon, their study of Black France –when it comes to literary representations– derives almost entirely from texts published by black writers. This article highlights the need to broaden the corpus considered, and proposes to account for the white gaze on Black France, reflecting on the way Christine Angot‘s 2011 novel Les Petits intervenes in the postcolonial debate.