On May 25th, Claude Grunitzky gave a lecture at one of the highest-esteemed universities in France, Ecole Normale Supérieure (Normale Sup), on entrepreneurship and creativity.

Drawing from his longstanding research and writing on transculturalism, he reviewed the means and constraints of creativity among the “new urban generation,” the youth with multiple ethnic origins that represents more than 9 million people in France, and who convey the values of transculturalism in art. For Grunitzky, transculturalism itself is embodied in many ways by this rising, multi-ethnic, international generation. His definition of creativity as the search for a common sense, both simple and shareable, is one that creates self-evidence – “ergonomic creativity” (the “less is more”, a simplified creativity) placed at the heart of the technological process. Grunitzky then illustrated his definition of modern entrepreneurship with examples of French entrepreneurs born in the 70s, a generation who was able to benefit from the digital revolution to transcend time and space thanks to new technologies: a new transcultural elite that re-invented the ways we cooperate. -Audrey

On April 17th, I spoke at a symposium entitled “Constructing Black France: A Transatlantic Dialogue.” The event, which was organized by the Institute for Research in African American Studies at Columbia University and the Africana Studies program at Barnard College, was part of a one-day conference where scholars, activists, and artists from France and the United States were gathered to assess, compare, and contrast the theoretical framing of “Black France” by examining contemporary scholarship on conceptions of race, blackness, minority status, and citizenship. The proceedings concluded with a musical reception at 7:30 PM at Buell Hall (Maison Française, Columbia University), featuring music by Stateside Revolution and Le Tana de Sumanguru, followed by a screening of The Glass Ceiling (Le Plafond de Verre, 2006), an examination of the integration of immigrants in the workplace, with a question and answer session with the film’s director, Yamina Benguigui.  - Claude