Arab Skin, French Masks: ‘Ni Putes, Ni Soumises’ and the Assimilationist Discourses in France

In my research, I look at the relationship between the French state and its postcolonial immigrants from North Africa, better known in France as (the rather derogatory term) ‘les Arabes’. I am interested in particular in how assimilationist discourses in France shape the ‘acceptable’ behaviors of the Arab1 subjects. My point here is to show how these discourses create racialized and gendered conditions of entrance into the wider community of citizens.