1st Edition
Love Under the Skin Interracial Marriages in the American South and France
The rising visibility of interracial couples calls for increased attention to the overlapping of culture and race, in safe spaces centered on small-group dynamics, or in public spaces where peoples of African descent are under the public gaze. This comparative study seeks to de-center the U.S-centered viewpoint common to much of the literature on black/white relations. Based on nine years of fieldwork in the American South and in France, Coquet shows many unexpected parallels between the two societies. Gendered perceptions of cultural authenticity and sexual ethics are a guiding thread, being inseparable from the historical and political contingencies (re-)defining acceptable forms of dating, marrying, and parenting among cis-heterosexual couples in both societies. Her account emphasizes resilience and agency as couples seek to protect themselves and their children, while their extended or symbolic kinship networks help white partners acknowledge the existence of racial privilege.
Introduction: What’s Love Got to Do with It? Part I. Historical Backgrounds "Out of a past that's rooted in shame": How Interracial Marriage Became a Stigma Chapter 1. Criminalizing Interracial Attraction to Enshrine White Property in America Chapter 2. Religion and Gender in the Construction of Black Otherness in Metropolitan France Part II. Comparative Sociological Analysis "Good fences make good neighbors": Internalizing and Contesting the White Racial Frame int eh Realm of Intimacy Today Chapter 3. Inscribing Race and Gender in a "Colorblind" Era: How Partners are Socialized Against Dating "Out" Chapter 4. Current Repercussions of the Representations of Black/White Couples in France and Alabama: Is it About "Selling Out" or Becoming Kin? Chapter 5. Interracial Fusion? Maintaining a Partnership and Starting a Family with more than one Cultural Model Chapter 6. Fantasizing the Child: How Successfully do Partners Negotiate Racial Otherness when Reflecting on Parenthood and Parenting?
Biography
Cécile Coquet-Mokoko is a Professor of African American Studies, US Cultural History, and Gender Studies at the University of Versailles-St Quentin (France). She taught African American Studies for three semesters at the University of Alabama in 2009-2010. Her publications focus on African American religious traditions and oratory, and race and gender relations in the USA
'Cécile Coquet-Mokoko’s macro and micro approach of interracial marriages on both sides of the Atlantic proves to be a much needed counter-frame in the face of growing political polarization and rampant anti-Black racism in France and the U.S. As France has moved from the postmodern fantasy of métissage10 at the beginning of the century, to the fear of grand remplacement (literally: “Great replacement”) now widely discussed by the French media and politicians, one can only hope to see Love Under the Skin translated into French and reach as many readers as possible.'
Fanny Robles in Revue electronique d'Etudes sur le monde Anglopohne
