Seeking imperialism's embrace : national identity, decolonization, and assimilation in the French Caribbean
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Bibliographic Information
Seeking imperialism's embrace : national identity, decolonization, and assimilation in the French Caribbean
Oxford University Press, c2016
- : hardcover
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 235-265) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
In 1946, at a time when other French colonies were just beginning to break free of French imperial control after World War II, the people of the French Antilles-the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe-voted to join the French nation as departments (Departments d'outre mer, or DOMs). For Antilleans, eschewing independence in favor of complete integration with the metropole was the natural culmination of a centuries-long quest for equality with France
and a means of overcoming the entrenched political and economic power of the white minority on the islands, the Bekes. Disappointment with departmentalization set in quickly, however, as the equality promised was slow in coming and Antillean contributions to the war effort went unrecognized.
In analyzing the complex considerations surrounding the integration of the French Antilleans, Seeking Imperialism's Embrace explores how the major developments of post-WWII history-economic recovery, great power politics, global population dynamics, the creation of pluralistic societies in the West, and the process of decolonization-played out in the microcosm of the French Caribbean. As the French government struggled to stem unrest among a growing population in the Antilles
through economic development, tourism, and immigration to the metropole where labor was in short supply, those who had championed departmentalization, such as Aime Cesaire, argued that the "race-blind" Republic was far from universal and egalitarian. Antilleans fought against the racial and gender stereotypes
imposed on them and sought both to stem the tide of white metropolitan workers arriving in the Antilles and also to make better lives for their families in France.
Kristen Stromberg Childers argues that while departmentalization is often criticized as a weak alternative to national independence, the overwhelmingly popular vote among Antilleans should not be dismissed as ill-conceived. The disappointment that followed, she contends, reflects more on the broken promises of assimilation rather than the misguided nature of the vote itself.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter One: The Second World War as a Turning Point in the French Caribbean
Chapter Two: Liberation Choices
Chapter Three: Geography, History, Identity
Chapter Four: The Struggle over History in the Antilles
Chapter Five: Difference and Belonging: The Illusions of Equality
Chapter Six: The Gender and Family Dynamics of Departmentalization
Chapter Seven: Migration Flows and the Politics of Exclusion
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
by "Nielsen BookData"
