Azouz Begag

"The Politics of Anti-Racism in France: Lessons from Government"

Arranged by the Winthrop-King Institute for Contemporary French and Francophone Studies;
Sponsored by the Broad International Lecture Series and the College of Social Sciences

Azouz Begag was appointed Minister for Equal Opportunities in the government of Dominique de Villepin in June 2005. France's best known writer of Algerian immigrant origin, he has had a distinguished career as a novelist, sociologist, screenplay writer and political commentator. He was born in Lyon, France's second city, in 1957 and was raised in a shantytown there. His autobiographical narratives include the best-selling Le Gone du Chaâba (1986) and Béni ou le paradis privé (1989). He has explored pressing issues of social justice and identity politics in novels such as Quand on est mort, c'est pour toute la vie (1995), Les Chiens aussi (1995), Dis oualla! (1997) and Le Passeport (2000). As a sociologist with the Conseil National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), he has published numerous essays on ethnicity, multiculturalism and social integration in France including Les Dérouilleurs (2002) and L'intégration (2003). He has served as a member of France's Conseil Economique et Social and has been a Visiting Professor in the Winthrop-King Institute for Contemporary French and Francophone Studies at Florida State University since 2002. In 2004 he was awarded the Légion d'Honneur by President Jacques Chirac.