French Caribbeans in Africa (PDF)

VERONIQUE HÉLÉNON Assistant Professor of History at Florida International University, USA.

"This book examines a very important and timely subject, especially in the wake of the impact of the new wave of immigration in Europe that finds France and the other former colonial powers forced to come to grips with the memory and legacy of their colonial past. This study is clearly the result of a tremendous amount of archival and other research and it is admirably rich in content. It provides much background historical information to inform its main subject, and at the same time reveals little known facets of the history of the French Caribbean and West Africa, and their relationship to France." - Allison Blakely, Professor of European and Comparative History, Boston University

"This book is an original and nuanced historical study. It constitutes the first examination of the French Caribbean presence in French African colonial administrations prior to World War II. This is a subtle yet complex study of colonial strategies of divide and rule as well as a complex understanding of the relationship between colonized and colonizer. During the period of the Third Republic, the French government led a heavy policy of colonial conquest around the globe, and Africa in particular became a major component of the French Empire. Rather than considering this history from the perspective of the colonial power, this book takes into full consideration the post-slavery French Caribbean context." - Ramon Grosfoguel, Associate Professor, Department of Ethnic Studies, University of California, Berkeley