This collection of essays represents the proceedings of the "Looking for Ariel: Discourses on/of Métissage" conference organized by the author at NYU in 1997. At this event, scholars and writers came together to assess the notion of métissage, reconstitute its history and examine its possible deconstruction. Historically, the notion of métissage has contributed to changing the way bodies are experienced, to establishing new legal identities, and to modifying the expression of personal experience and intimacy. In the postcolonial context, métissage is a key-concept to understand the management of immigration, as well as the development of new modes of writing and reading.
"Le volume est constitué de onze communications, toutes intéressantes et d'un intelligent texte préliminaire où l'éditeur du volume, Sylvie Kandé, évoque les instances historiques, sociales et littéraires du métissage." (Laura Reek, Notre Librairie)
"Sylvie Kandé réunit dans cet essai onze contributions au colloque organisé par New York University les 4 et 5 avril 1997 sous le titre Looking for Ariel: Discourses on/of Métissage. La qualité des participants, la variété des observations et des analyses, le bilan des diverses perspectives portées sur ce sujet faisait de ce colloque un moment important de la pensée consacrée à la question du métissage que la parution de l'ouvrage, quelques mois plus tard, ne démentit pas." (Ronald Fonkoua, Études Littéraires Africaines)
"... l'ouvrage de Sylvie Kandé est une sorte de manifeste du métissage." (Boniface Mongo-Mboussa, Africultures)
"The notion of métissage... has become a cliché, easily misused and abused, by its proponents as well as its opponents. This is precisely why this collection of essays, edited by Sylvie Kandé, should be read. It is not an evangelical book (i.e. an attempt to spread the good news of métissage and hybridity) , but rather an attempt to reevaluate the meaning and significance of current debates about cultural mixing by reexamining their origins and development in the colonial and post-colonial eras." (Eric Prieto, Substance)