Transcript of Interview of François Héran by Daniel Sabbagh

Interview Transcript / January 2010 / Available in French and in English

This is the transcript of a video interview between François Héran, former director of INED (French National Institute of Demographic Studies) and president of the Comité pour la Mesure et l’Évaluation de la Diversité et des Discriminations (translated: Committee for the Measuring and Evaluation of Diversity and Discriminations), and Daniel Sabbagh, Senior Research Fellow at CERI – Sciences Po and scientific advisor to the Equality of Opportunity Program. This conversation was part of a series of interviews produced by the French-American Foundation between Daniel Sabbagh and five French experts on the theme of equal opportunity.

The following themes were discussed:

• Ethno-racial Categories as a Product of History
• Measuring "Diversity" and Discrimination: The French Legal Framework
• The "Demographers' Quarrel" Over "Ethnic Statistics"
• The Emergence of the Issue of Discrimination in France
• "Ethnic Statistics" and the Debate on Immigration
• The COMEDD's Recommendations
• The Ethnic Dimension of the Instruments Already Available
• What Can Be Learned from America

Video excerpts from the interview are on view here in the Video Library.

Download (in French) (15 pages)
Download (in English) (14 pages)