From the Generic to the Ultrablack

Badiou in France, French Decolonial Theory and Critical Race Theory

Abstract

The aim of this essay is to engage in an extended conversation with the book, Universal Emancipation: Race beyond Badiou. Minneapolis, Min.: University of Minnesota Press, 2020, written by Elisabeth Paquette. First, we present the book in a standard book review style. Then we discuss Paquette’s argument, according to which she claims Alain Badiou’s philosophy is “Eurocentric” and ultimately blind to “race” as understood within the framework of contemporary North American Critical Race Theory. We then go on to set the bases for a critical assessment of her claims, arguing that Paquette’s framework is too culturally restrictive to fully account for the state of postcolonial studies in France today and that this restriction leads her to misinterpret Badiou. Notwithstanding her misinterpretations, we argue that through the selection and dependence on secondary sources, Paquette’s strategy is not incidental. Instead, she misrepresents Badiou by deliberately ignoring the distinctions in his philosophical system regarding the relationship between philosophy and the political.