ABSTRACT
Postcolonial studies got a late start in France; at first they involved elements that were well known in the English-speaking world but that were alien to French academia. Colonial and postcolonial issues are visible in contemporary French society, which has become multicultural. The influence of postcolonial studies is making itself felt, in at least an indirect way, in many areas of social science research. Studies are targeted that are simple overviews of colonial stereotypes. Postcolonial studies favor the development of lines of questioning concerning the place of French-language literatures throughout the world. Nicolas Martin-Granel refers to exchanges between proponents and opponents of postcolonial studies as a "dialogue of the deaf", and Anthony Maingeon expresses his own "frustration" with regard to such disputes. One possible conclusion is that the project of postcolonial studies has succeeded since the Social Sciences as a whole have adapted to the postcolonial context.
