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In 1946, after more than three hundred years as French colonies, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and French Guiana were transformed into "overseas departments" of France, equal and identical in theory to any French department. This book assesses the effects of almost half a century of political assimilation into France and asks to what extent the high standard of living enjoyed by French West Indians today has been offset by losses on the political, cultural, and psychological levels.
The book, whose contributors come from the French West Indies themselves and from Britain and Jamaica, brings a variety of perspectives to bear on what to many observers will seem a paradox in the postcolonial age: three West Indian societies that are now part of Europe and whose desire to remain French far outweighs- or so it seems- their desire to be West Indian.
About the author
Richard D.E. Burton teaches French in the School of African and Asian Studies at Sussex University. He is the author of the forthcoming Famille, ideologie et pouvoir a la Martinique 1789-1992. He has also written extensively on nineteenth-century French literature and has published two books on Baudelaire. Fred Reno teaches political science at the Universite de Rennes II. Of Martinician origin, he is director of the research laboratory Territoires et Pouvoir Local. He has published widely on West Indian politics and institutions and has written a thesis comparing constitutional developments in Martinique and Barbados.
