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The article presents an assessment of notes generated by France's surveillance of African and Afro-Caribbean migrants during the interwar years to analyze how black men made use of racial terms such as nègre and mulâtre. It is suggested that this racial language was infused with new political, social, and cultural meaning after World War I. How workers and intellectuals developed a race awareness that was both a response to colonialism and as a reaction against those who did not appear anti-imperial enough in their politics is discussed. It is argued that racial language expressed the nuances of black political and ideological stances with respect to the French Empire. The meanings granted to race are traced through organizations such as the Union des Travailleurs Nègres.

This section presents abstracts of articles in this issue, many of which discuss French historian Eugene Weber's work. Articles include "André Siegfried and the Complexities of French Anti-Americanism," by Sean Kennedy, "Black in France: The Language and Politics of Race in the Late Third Republic," by Jennifer Boittin, and "Rethinking the Nation at the Periphery," by Laird Boswell.

The article focuses on the proposition of a hygienic reform concerning the lifestyle of French people by doctors during a period called the Belle Époque, from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of World War I, in reaction to industrial and urban development and its effect on health. According to the article, naturopathy enthusiasts and vegetarians agreed with this program and shared the idea that a lifestyle far from the laws of nature was the main cause of diseases. The Société Végétarienne de France, the French society of vegetarianism, is mentioned as a key player in the promotion of this reform.