Historian Pascal Blanchard: 'Identity will be one of the main themes of France's presidential campaign'

Pascal Blanchard, in Paris, June 5, 2022. PHILIPPE MATSAS/LEEXTRA VIA OPALE.PHOTO

Pascal Blanchard is a research associate at the Center of International History and Political Studies of Globalization in Lausanne, Switzerland. He is the co-author, with fellow historian Benjamin Stora, of Doit-on s'excuser de la colonisation ? ("Should We Apologize for Colonization," 2025),

One year ahead of the 2027 presidential election, why is identity taking up so much space in the public debate?

Whether we like it or not, we will have to talk about identity, and it will be one of the main themes of the presidential campaign, though not the only one. In France, there is a history, people and a narrative that shapes the present. Colonial history, for example, remains taboo, but it is present in our streets, our memories and our lives. It sheds light on something unprecedented: No other society has undergone such sudden and significant changes, with people settling in a country that has undergone decolonization.

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