At Home in Our Sounds illustrates the effect jazz music had on the enormous social challenges Europe faced in the aftermath of World War I. Examining the ways African American, French Antillean, and French West African artists reacted to the heightened visibility of racial difference in Paris during this era, author Rachel Anne Gillett addresses fundamental cultural questions that continue to resonate today: Could one be both black and French? Was black solidarity more important than national and colonial identity? How could French culture include the experiences and contributions of Africans and Antilleans? Providing a well-rounded view of black reactions to jazz in interwar Paris, At Home in Our Sounds deals with artists from highly educated women like the Nardal sisters of Martinique, to the working black musicians performing at all hours throughout the city. In so doing, the book places this phenomenon in its historical and political context and shows how music and music-making constituted a vital terrain of cultural politics--one that brought people together around pianos and on the dancefloor, but that did not erase the political, regional, and national differences between them.

This work offers a profound philosophical and psychological exploration of the multi-dimensional significance of home and the interwoven themes of homelessness and homesickness and contemporary global culture.

"At Home in Our Sounds: Music, Race, and Cultural Politics in Interwar Paris shows how and why music became part of the social changes Europe faced in the aftermath of World War One. It focuses on the story of black music in Paris and the people who created it, enjoyed it, criticised it and felt at home when they heard it. African Americans, French Antilleans, and French West Africans wrote, danced, sang, and acted politically in response to the heightened visibility of racial difference in Paris during this era. They were consumed with questions that continue to resonate today. Could one be black and French? Was black solidarity more important than national and colonial identity? How could French culture include the experiences and contributions of Africans and Antilleans? From highly educated women, like the Nardal sisters of Martinique, to the working black musicians performing in crowded nightclubs at all hours, At Home in Our Sounds gives a fully rounded view of black reactions to jazz in interwar Paris. It places that phenomenon in its historic and political context, and in doing so shows how music and music-making formed a vital terrain of cultural politics. It shows how music-making brought people together around pianos, on the dancefloor, and through reading and gossip, but it did not erase the political and regional and national differences between them. It shows that many found a home in Paris but did not always feel at home. This book reveals these dimensions of music-making, race, and cultural politics in interwar Paris"--