Refonder les histoires IV: Breaking the racial contract
Breaking the racial contract: an initiative of Espace de la diversité and Éditions Mémoire d’encrier
In February 2023, on the occasion of the publication of Charles W. Mills’ essay The Racial Contract, for the first time in French, l’Espace de la diversité in collaboration with éditions Mémoire d’encrier launch Refonder les histoires IV: Breaking the racial contract.
Originally published in 1997, The Racial Contract is the essential work of critical race theory. Writers, artists, thinkers, cultural transmitters and social activists representing a diversity of backgrounds and experiences, from Quebec, Canada and other countries, come together to revisit this hard-hitting book that has served as a compass for several generations and represents a fundamental advance in the struggle for racial justice.
Fundamental questions will be asked and discussed: how to break the racial contract?
What societies can we imagine beyond the racial divide? How can we reinvent relationships? How do we become inhabitants of the same land?
Can we dream together and blend voices and destinies?
Inspired by the work of Charles W. Mills, the voices will be crossroads, shaking hands and hearts.
The main objective: to combat racism and exclusion through books and literature; to celebrate those writers who, through their imagination, disrupt and reshape the order of things.
February 2, 2023: Talking circle “Briser le contrat racial” led by author Webster, followed by a performance of Les racistes n’ont jamais vu la mer by authors Yara El-Ghadban and Rodney Saint-Éloi, with musical accompaniment by Zal Sissokho and Mamadou Koïta. At the Maison de la Culture Claude-Léveillée.
April 17, 2023: In collaboration with Logos Readings and the Black Community Resource Centre (BCRC), this event brought together 10 black authors, including emerging authors, to read excerpts from their works on the theme of Breaking the Racial Contract.
June 19, 2023: In collaboration with Cinéma public, screening of the film Respire and discussion with director Onur Karaman. At Livart.
September 25-29, 2023: Les midis littéraires in collaboration with the Festival international de la littérature (FIL).
October 8, 2023: In collaboration with Cinéma public, screening of the film Kokomo city, a portrait of the lives of black and transgender sex workers in New York and Atlanta. Followed by a discussion with a panel of Afro-descendant trans artists and moderated by musician and multidisciplinary artist Elle Barbara. At Casa d’Italia.
Photos:
- Talking circle “Breaking the Racial Contract”: Authors, artists and readers share their readings of this fundamental work. How it changed their perspective on the world and on the fight against racism and exclusion. In this classic work, translated into French for the first time, philosopher Charles W. Mills shows how the social contract is above all a racial contract that has made the modern world what it is: an unequal world where entire peoples are excluded from the circle of humanity. With the participation of the translator of The Racial Contract, historian and hip-hop artist Aly Ndiaye alias Webster.
- Show Les racistes n’ont jamais vu la mer: A reading and music show based on excerpts from Les racistes n’ont jamais vu la mer. With the participation of Rodney Saint-Éloi, Yara El-Ghadban, actors’ voices and the musical accompaniment of Zal Sissokho on kora and Mamadou Koïta on balafon.
Thanks to our partners :
Mémoire d’encrier, Département de philosophie de l’Université de Montréal, Maison de la littérature Claude-Lévéillée, Maison d’Haïti, Centre International de Documentation et d’Information Caribéenne et Afro-canadienne, Gallimard Diffusion, Laboratoire des Afriques Innovantes (LAFI) – UQAM, Peace Centre – Dawson College, Logos Readings, and many others.
