teissand@yorku.ca

I am a Master's student in Social Anthropology, focusing my thesis on the activism of Malian undocumented migrants in the Paris region. My work hopes to shed light on migrants' experiences of state violence and practices of resistance. In particular, I will be studying the political discourses that emerge from migrant collectives, which tie contemporary structures of state racism to France's historical and ongoing colonialism on the African continent. I will also pay close attention to how police repression shapes an urban sensorium that targets migrants and racialized people through technologies of violence such as random police checks, surveillance, verbal and physical harm, and even chemicals (tear gas). My analysis of resistance strategies will similarly highlight the multiple sensory dimensions of migrant activism, notably in the artistic expressions of music, dance and urban art.