Spontaneous Breathing for Panendoscopy? Retrospective Cohort and Results of a French Practice Survey

Objective Avoiding tracheal intubation by using general anesthesia with spontaneous breathing (GASB) is attractive for upper airway panendoscopy. The aim of this study was to estimate the incidence of adverse events during panendoscopy under GASB and to assess the practices of French anesthesiologists. Study Design Two-phase study: monocentric retrospective study and national survey. Setting University hospital center. Methods Patients who underwent a panendoscopy under GASB at the University Hospital of Angers between January 1 and December 31, 2014, were reviewed. Failure of GASB was defined as an episode of hypoxemia (SpO2 ≤88%) or the need for face mask ventilation with or without tracheal intubation. Then, we sent an electronic survey to all members of the French Society of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care. Results Among the 95 included patients, 22 (23%) experienced a failure of GASB: 3 tolerated hypoxemia, 15 had face mask ventilation episodes, and 4 were intubated. Three factors were associated with failure: obesity (odds ratio, 11.94; 95% CI, 3.20-44.64), history of difficult intubation defined as a Cormack score ≥3 (odds ratio, 6.20; 95% CI, 1.51-25.41), and laryngeal tumor (odds ratio, 2.81; 95% CI, 1.04-7.56). Among the 3930 members of the French Society of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care in 2018, 662 (16.8%) responded to the survey. The 2 preferred techniques to perform panendoscopy were intubation (62%) and intravenous sedation with spontaneous breathing (37%). Conclusion Although general anesthesia with orotracheal intubation remains the preferred technique for panendoscopy in France, GASB is an attractive alternative with a low failure rate. Risk factors for failure are obesity, history of difficult intubation, and laryngeal tumor.

“Rapport Duclert” and France’s Responsibility for the Genocide in Rwanda

In March 2021 the Duclert Commission, a commission of French experts appointed by President Macron, presented their report which immediately became the subject of academic and political debates. The Report examined the French involvement in Rwandan genocide in 1994, and pointed to the major ethical, legal and political dilemmas accompanying states’ involvement into the affairs of other states. We seek to identify major topics raised by the French media in relation to the report, and how possible reconciliation between France and Rwanda was presented in French periodicals. Through post-colonial lenses to the study of states’ foreign policy, we examine how the French role in the genocide was seen in media discourses, and how the media addressed such painful questions as accepting/avoiding state responsibility for its actions. Using qualitative content-analysis, we studied articles from French media outlets Le Monde, Libération and Le Figaro in the period of late March 2021 ‒ July 2021, as well as a few randomly selected articles from other French outlets to have a more complete picture of public debates across a political spectrum. The article concludes that while the media stressed the importance of the Committee’s work for bilateral relations, still, there is no consensus in the French society over France’s responsibility for the genocide: whether acknowledging state responsibility would be a manifestation of weakness and a threat to state security, or masking of certain colonial inclinations.

The Rhetoric of Sexual Difference in French Reproductive Politics

What kind of rhetoric frames French reproductive policy debate? Who does such policies exclude? Through an examination of the “American import” of gender studies, along with an analysis of France’s Catholic heritage and secular politics, I argue that an unwavering belief in sexual difference as the foundation of French society defines the productive reproductive citizen. Sylviane Agacinski is perhaps the most vocal public philosopher who has framed the terms of reproductive policy debate in France, building an oppositional platform to reproductive technology around anthropological assertions of sexual difference. This paper engages with Agacinski to examine rhetorical claims of sexual difference and how such claims delayed passage of France’s revised bioethics legislation that extends access of assisted reproductive technology (ART) to “all women.” Though the “PMA pour toutes” [ART for all women] legislation was eventually passed, such rhetoric motivated the explicit exclusion of all trans person from its extension, thus hardly permitting ART to all women.

Employment Problems of Muslim Migrants in France (Exemplified by Paris). Part 1

The first part of the article briefly covers the history of immigration to France, social conflicts associated with migrants, and the results of French research on discrimination of immigrants in employment. In spite of the high unemployment rate, compared with other European Union countries, France remains one of the centres of migration and receives a significant number of migrants and refugees every year. The origins of immigration to France go back to the mid-19th century. Initially, it was mainly for political reasons, in order to find a job or receive an education. Between the First and the Second World Wars, France accepted both political (e.g. from Russia, Germany and Spain) and labour migrants (from Africa and Indo-China). After World War II, the French government actively invited labour migrants from the French colonies, primarily, from North Africa (Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco). When the Algerian War ended, the Harkis – Algerians who served in the French Army – found refuge in France. By the late 1960s, the Moroccan and Tunisian communities were formed. Up to the 1980s, labour migration was predominant. However, with time, the share of refugees and those who wanted to move to France with their families started to increase. This caused a growing social and political tension in French society resulting in conflicts (e.g. the 2005 riots in Paris). Moreover, the numerous terrorist attacks and the migration crisis of 2014–2016 had a particularly negative impact on the attitude towards migrants. All these issues have to a certain extent affected the employment of the Muslim population in France.

The language of lace and embroidery from the court of Louis XIV through to contemporary haute couture

<p>The history of thread work is a story of practicality and functionality, but it is also a tale of power, fashion, virtuosity, decorum, art and culture. Thread work has played a role as a visual language in France for many centuries, continually evolving in its techniques and range of expressive and stylistic possibilities and thus in its significance as a communicative medium. In more recent times, thread work has come to be considered as a form of social and cultural discourse in its own right that is consequently referred to as ‘visual rhetoric’. Following this unique form of visual discourse through the history of fashion allows consideration of the development of identity and gender roles in French society as well as the interrelated narratives of the creative processes involved in the production of lace and embroidery. These reflections lead in turn to consideration of the ways processes of production and consumption were disrupted and transformed by major events, by sumptuary laws and political edicts. The language of thread work has been encoded and decoded by all socio-economic classes, and is underwritten by tensions between power and dependency, rich and poor, light and dark, public show and private domesticity. It has the capacity to express identities and to enhance communities. In more recent times the reconsideration of the value of thread work in the design concepts of haute couture has seen a revitalisation of the appreciation of this medium in an industry associated with luxury, exclusivity and creativity. The language of thread-work remains ambivalent and complex in France today, signifying an innocuous ‘feminine’ pastime on the one hand, and a valued professional skill and cultural heritage on the other.</p>

The language of lace and embroidery from the court of Louis XIV through to contemporary haute couture

<p>The history of thread work is a story of practicality and functionality, but it is also a tale of power, fashion, virtuosity, decorum, art and culture. Thread work has played a role as a visual language in France for many centuries, continually evolving in its techniques and range of expressive and stylistic possibilities and thus in its significance as a communicative medium. In more recent times, thread work has come to be considered as a form of social and cultural discourse in its own right that is consequently referred to as ‘visual rhetoric’. Following this unique form of visual discourse through the history of fashion allows consideration of the development of identity and gender roles in French society as well as the interrelated narratives of the creative processes involved in the production of lace and embroidery. These reflections lead in turn to consideration of the ways processes of production and consumption were disrupted and transformed by major events, by sumptuary laws and political edicts. The language of thread work has been encoded and decoded by all socio-economic classes, and is underwritten by tensions between power and dependency, rich and poor, light and dark, public show and private domesticity. It has the capacity to express identities and to enhance communities. In more recent times the reconsideration of the value of thread work in the design concepts of haute couture has seen a revitalisation of the appreciation of this medium in an industry associated with luxury, exclusivity and creativity. The language of thread-work remains ambivalent and complex in France today, signifying an innocuous ‘feminine’ pastime on the one hand, and a valued professional skill and cultural heritage on the other.</p>

The Rue d’Isly, Algiers, 26 March 1962

This article examines the memorial discourses surrounding the massacre that occurred on 26 March 1962 when, in the week following the Franco–FLN ceasefire, French soldiers opened fire on a demonstration of unarmed European settler civilians, killing forty-six and wounding two hundred. Largely unknown among wider French society, references to the massacre have become a staple of the pied-noir activist discourse of victimhood, often advanced as evidence that they had no choice but to leave Algeria in 1962. The article draws on French and Algerian press articles, as well as online, print, and film publications produced by the repatriated European population. It reveals how settlers’ narratives first dehistoricized the massacre and then invested it with a significance that drew on multidirectional memories borrowed from a range of sometimes jarring international contexts. The analysis accounts for why the massacre contributed to the repatriated settler community’s sense of identity and relationship to the wider French nation.