Race et ressort comique: l’invention théâtrale de “Bamboula”

In the second half of the nineteenth century, dramatic literature racializes the comic argument of the “nègre.” Race becomes a comic device of vaudeville, as dramatic as it is musical, notably with Labiche, through the figure of the man who will soon be called “Bamboula” and who summons burlesque situations, eccentric settings, carnival disguises, humorous couplets, explosive dances and clownish fun. This figure is found in the music hall with Chocolat at the beginning of the twentieth century and will participate in all the new media formats of modernity, enough to trivialize racism and durably shape mentalities. (In French)