In response to Bourdieu and Wacquant, I argue that American hegemony in set
ting the terms of debate on ethnicity and racism is nothing new, led in the
first half of the century by US heterotopic intellectuals, immigrants, out
siders and descendants of slaves. Ironically, in the light of claims made b
y the authors, in the post-war era the debate is increasingly dominated by
ex-imperial British and French postcolonial thinkers. The authors' disquiet
is more explicable, however, if viewed against die background of French re
publican discourses that deny the legitimacy of 'difference' in the public
sphere. But in the final analysis, terms such as multiculturalism or ethnic
ity are not legislated from above but respond to grassroots social movement
s, and in France minority groups are presently claiming: a voice and presen
ce in the public sphere.