Le banlieues, con le loro rivolte e le macchine in fiamme, ci apparirebbero diverse se le guardassimo con gli occhi della critica postcoloniale, e cioè se capissimo che “la questione coloniale è una questione ancora irrisolta e terribilmente presente all'interno delle società multirazziali occidentali contemporanee, e anche se è in buona parte rimossa dai dibattiti quotidiani, ogni tanto torna a farsi sentire con forza”. Come ad esempio nelle rivolte delle banlieues.

The concept of diaspora goes back in human history; it was initially used by the ancient Greeks to describe their spreading all over the then known-world. For the ancient Greeks diaspora signified migration and colonisation. For the Jews, the Armenians and the Africans who later adopted the term, the concept implied more painful meanings of loss of a Homeland, violent deterritorialisation and longing for return (Cohen, 1997). As much as the history of migration and settlement for these populations and for other populations that have moved across the globe has changed, so did the concept of diaspora

The notion of a postcolonial Bourdieu presents us with an oxymoron – a contradiction in terms – that points to a set of conditions which have informed the international translation of Bourdieu’s work as well as certain tensions existing both within and towards the field of postcolonial studies.