Florence Gould Foundation

How can we think about our responsibility in the face of past crimes whose consequences continue to weigh on the living conditions of their victims or descendants? One first step, for the philosopher Catherine Lu, would be to acknowledge and theorise the colonial roots of our world order.

A new anthology provides French translations of key texts in the field of Critical Race Theory, as it has developed over the past 40 years in the United States. They help us to understand the decisive role played by legal discourse and practice in the social, historical, and cultural construction of race.

All over the world, from India, Sierra Leone and Mexico to 1970s France and revolutionary Tunisia, people have tried to escape from prison. How is a prison break conceived, how it is planned and what does it signify to those who experience it and those who dream of it?

What do late nineteenth-century Berlin and Cairo have in common? The German historian Joseph Ben Prestel accepts the challenge of comparing these two cities in order to interrogate the boundaries between Europe and the Middle East, as well as orientalism’s assumptions.

‘Let’s be creative!’ Andreas Reckwitz traces the genealogy of this word, joyfully exploring its successive historic circumvolutions. A stimulating work that has not relinquished a certain philosophy of history.

The flourishing history of the relationship between race and health has recently turned to the origins of medicine in the United States and the decisive role played by enslaved Africans, both dead and alive. A history of duress, from which their voices nevertheless emerge.

When groups defined as minorities take a political stand, those in a dominant position often see it as a threat. In a genealogy of power viewed through the prism of resistance, Elsa Dorlin analyses the political self-defence traditions these groups employ.

Music naturally conveys emotion but, over the course of the 20^th century, it has also become a tool of manipulation and perhaps even a weapon of control. Juliette Volcler describes this process in her book devoted to the career and research of little-known sound engineer Harold Burris-Meyer.

While many see the United States as a land of freedom, Sean Wilentz questions the passion for American equality. He takes a new look at the country’s political life and the deep antagonism to political parties, periodically played out in the country.

Can one write a history of colonization through plants? This is the challenge taken up by Samir Boumediene in a book devoted to the modern-age production of botanical knowledge on both sides of the Atlantic.

This panorama of the mobilizations against homosexual marriage in twelve European countries highlights the federation of several conservative movements under the unifying ‘Anti-Gender Crusade’ banner.

Few histories of the African American fight for equality manage to shed their ideological bias. Caroline Rolland-Diamond offers an impressive overview that goes beyond oppositions to highlight the structuring lines of a two-century-old struggle that continues today.

In his incisive, concise and stimulating book, the sociologist Rogers Brubaker examines the reasons why, in the United States today, social acceptance of transgender situations has no equivalent in “transracial” cases.

How to live one’s Muslim faith in a context of growing Islamophobia? John O’Brien explores the multiple ways in which young American Muslims manage to reconcile their beliefs with their national belonging.

In India, the ban on meat-based diets is still linked to an obligation of ritual purity for high castes – but not solely. As the geographer Michaël Bruckert explains, in modern-day India the consumption of meat structures the social, cultural and economic space of the sub-continent.

Can a mushroom help us understand the changes and deadlocks of capitalism? Studying matsutake foraging and commerce, anthropologist Anna Tsing describes a world that has turned its back on progress and where survival depends upon fragile collaborations between humans and the world surrounding them.

Traditionally, the dominant classes displayed their superiority by flaunting their wealth through their purchases. According to Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, the affirmation of status is undergoing a dramatic transformation and is now expressed by far more discreet signifiers, where distinction is the new ostentation.

At a time when animal suffering is being denounced with increasing force and meatless diets are becoming more common, how can we explain the continued existence of a carnivorous humanity that is neither natural nor rational?

In the 18^th century, the free market emerged as a vehicle for equality, giving people freedom from managers’ authority. However, as Elizabeth Anderson explains, this is no longer the case: corporations’ power over their employees is now entirely dictatorial.

On the 5^th anniversary of Pope Francis’ election to the throne of St. Peter, Anthony Favier reflects on the career path and achievements of a pontiff torn between the desire for change and the need to embody a weakening Catholic institution.

In an unprecedented global history, François Jarrige and Thomas Le Roux explore the political and scientific origins of pollution, and show that its globalization during the industrial age was in no way inevitable.

Despite what some people now imagine, the Middle Ages was no more inclined to torture than other periods. Through a study of the archives of the Paris Parlement, Faustine Harang demonstrates that the medieval judicial system used this practice in a way that was limited and—most importantly—highly controlled.

Trees think, explains E. Kohn, because they have the ability to represent the world and today’s anthropology can help us go beyond the distinction between the human and the non-human. The risk here, though, is giving a weak definition of thinking.

At a time when artificial intelligence is the focus of growing public attention, the philosopher Catherine Malabou questions the increasingly porous boundaries between the human brain and the synthetic brain. In doing so she traces the development of the concept of intelligence.

Three sociologists analyse the European social structure, looking at the implications of the economic and political integration that has taken shape on the continent. Their approach provides new opportunities for the study of inequalities.

While metropolitan France saw the repression of abortion in the early 20^th century, against a backdrop of pro-natalist policy, pregnancy terminations were encouraged by authorities on Réunion Island after 1945. These practices shed light on a biopower constructed at the intersection of gender, class, and race.

Luc Boltanski and Arnaud Esquerre invite us to rethink the social mechanisms that produce value and underline the important role collections play in the dynamics of inequalities characterising contemporary societies. By questioning the forms and stakes of commodification and price making in today’s society, they show that inserting goods in a collection increases their value.

Historian Guillaume Lachenal set off on the trail of Dr David, in post in Wallis and Futuna and then Cameroon in the interwar period. Through the life of this little known figure, Lachenal’s investigation highlights the authoritarian excesses of colonial medicine.

Is it rational to act justly? Contemporary moral philosophy would appear to think so, but there is room for doubt: reason often urges us to serve our own interests first and foremost, even if that means being unjust. And much more is therefore required to convince the wicked than the mere force of reason.

The history of psychoanalysis is made up of violent controversies that have much to do with Freud himself—a figure who is both hated and revered. But overemphasizing these conflicts can overlook the fact that psychoanalysis also consists of a practice, which exists independently of Freudianism and anti-Freudianism.

Does philanthropy strengthen or undermine democracy and social justice? Acknowledging the scale and scope of the phenomenon in American society, a new book offers both normative and empirical insights into the question.

Should our relationships with animals be more diplomatic? This is what Baptiste Morizot suggests as he uses the ‘return of the Wolf’ as an opportunity for a philosophical reflection. As if to better implicitly reaffirm man’s domineering position?

Which actors are responsible for creating housing markets? A recent book looks at how Parisian real estate changed in the late nineteenth century, revealing how the property boom radically altered relationships to the city.

A coauthored volume offers a panoramic overview of working classes in contemporary France. These sociologists offer a theoretical clarification of the concept and show its relevance for describing this social group and its historical transformations.