A complicated and contentious French word, with a lot of political baggage.
Why do I need to know racialiser?
This French word is often used in discussions about society, politics, identity and/or discrimination. But be careful if you use it as it heavily politically and historically charged.
In 2021, before France’s last presidential election, President Emmanuel Macron gave a lengthy interview to Elle magazine in which one of his remarks sparked controversy.
He said: “I see society gradually becoming racialisé… I am on the universalist side. I do not identify with a struggle that reduces everyone to their identity.”
SOS Racisme, a politically left-wing international movement of anti-racist NGOs, criticised the president’s remarks. They claimed that Macron “targets those who fight against racism rather than fighting racism itself, and in the meantime doesn’t talk about discrimination.”
What does it mean?
The verb racialiser, roughly pronounced rah-syah-lee-zay, literally translates to “to make racial” but in reality it means to interpret or treat something in racial terms, or to assign a racial dimension to a person, group, or situation.
Terms like racialiser (to racialise) and racisé (racialised) are recent linguistic developments derived from the word “la race” (race).
And because of their connection to the historically problematic concept of “race,” these terms can carry negative or sensitive connotations.
In an interview with French media Radio France, Professor Iannis Roder explored the history of the word racialiser. At the end of the 19th century, the term dé-racialisation was used to refer to and lament interracial mixing. Its opposite, racialisation, from which comes the verb racialiser, appeared much later in the 1970s.
In France, the idea of seeing issues through the prism of race also comes up against the official ‘colourblind’ policy of the French republic.
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Critics argue that it rejects universalism, the idea that everyone can understand each other’s experiences. Instead, it emphasises lived experience to the point that only those considered “racialised” are seen as able to understand racism, which critics say creates separation and weakens shared understanding.
Supporters of the concept respond that these divisions already exist and must be acknowledged, not ignored.
Regarding journalism, Roder said that since language shapes perception, using terms like “racialised” without context can introduce an ideological bias. To remain neutral, journalists should either use quotation marks around these words or use clearer, more neutral phrases like “victims of racism”.
Racism itself in French is almost the same word – la racisme.
Examples used in the French press
Emmanuel Macron s’inquiète de “voir la société se racialiser progressivement”. (French media TF1) – Emmanuel Macron is concerned about ‘seeing society become increasingly racialised’.
Mort de George Floyd: “Je fais la différence entre cette vidéo et le fait de racialiser tout, il arrive aussi où des noirs viennent à tuer des blancs”. (French media RMC) – George Floyd’s death: “I draw a distinction between this video and the tendency to racialise everything; there are also cases where Black people kill white people”.
Il y a un véritable comble du paradoxe : alors que de nombreuses personnes blanches accusent sans cesse les anti-racistes de racialiser la question sociale, elles se permettent de racialiser sans aucun problème la question de la délinquance au travers du culturalisme, qui repose pourtant sur une erreur scientifique et sur l’idée raciste. (French media Mediapart) – It is the height of irony: whilst many white people constantly accuse anti-racists of racialising social issues, they have no qualms about racialising the issue of crime through culturalism, which is, however, based on a scientific fallacy and racist ideology.
