Rethinking Political Community in Contemporary France
Music, Migration, and the Paris Olympics
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Abstract
- Against the backdrop of the contemporary period, which is increasingly defined by exclusionary conceptions of the nation and citizenship, this article (re-)examines the concept of political community through the prism of music and migration. By considering how post-migrant musicians in postcolonial societies such as France throw into sharp relief the contemporary dynamics of far-right populism, racism, and exclusionary statecraft, this article offers a critical reflection on what alternatives to hostile national political communities might entail and how they might come about. Given the growth of migration-related anxiety in contemporary Europe, I claim that migration studies research must not only concern itself with the genealogical study of key political concepts that frame our public institutions and cultural worlds. Rather, I argue that it should also entail a process of re-imagining what those key political concepts and institutions could become in the future. This article therefore explores not only what a post-national political community might look like, but what it might sound like. I consider how post-migrant creative practices and music, in particular, can make the limitations of political concepts such as the nation and national political community more visible and more audible. I argue that the Paris Olympic Games of 2024 offers a valuable case-study as these became the locus of a series of polarized public debates about how to represent the French nation, due to the controversy that erupted around the commissioning of a French-Malian musician, Aya Nakamura, to perform at the Opening Ceremony.
- Date Issued 2026-03-13
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Authors
Kiwan, Nadia
- DOI https://doi.org/10.52413/mm.2026.42
- Language en
- License CC-BY-NC-4.0
- Subjects Aya Nakamura Paris Olympic Games migration music political community