Full Description
Overseas department of France in Amazonia and 'ultraperipheral region' of the EU, Guyane (French Guiana) is at the juncture of Europe, the Caribbean and South America. This collection of essays explores historical and conceptual locations of Guyane, as a relational space characterised by dynamics of interaction and conflict between the local, the national and the global. Does Guyane have, or has it had, its own place in the world, or is it a borderland which can only make sense in relation to elsewhere: to France and its colonial history, for example, or to African and other diasporas, or as a 'margin' of Europe?
This edited collection is the first volume to study Guyane from multiple perspectives. It subjects the enduring clichés and negative stereotypes regarding Guyane to critical examination, exploring how discourse on this DOM is, and has been, formed and how it may evolve. Chapters discuss geographical, literary and cultural 'locations' of Guyane, past and present, challenging its relegation to the 'periphery', whilst also historicizing the production of its marginal status. Finally, the collection aims to outline possible future challenges to the conceptual location of Guyane and possible directions for continued research.
Contents
Introduction
Richard Price, 'The Oldest Daughter of Overseas France'
Kari Evanson, 'Grand Reporters in Guyane: Bringing the Exotic Back Home'
Kathleen Gyssels, 'Kor and Karnival, the carnal road of Léon-Gontran Damas: "Evidence of Things not Seen"'
Silvia Espelt Bombín, 'Frontier Politics: French, Portuguese and Amerindian Alliances between the Amazon and Cayenne, 1680-1697'
Jonna Yarrington, 'Producing the periphery'
Edenz Maurice, 'A school in Boniville Political skills and "Primitives' in French Guiana (1930-1969)'
Sarah Wood, 'Reclaiming Félix Éboué: Departmentalisation and politics of commemoration in Guyane, 1944-2012'
Antonia Cristinoi and François Nemo, 'Palikur, a language between two worlds'
Sally Price, 'Maroon Art in Guyane: New Forms, New Discourses'
Catriona MacLeod: 'Performing and Parading Gender in Guyane's Carnival'
Bill Marshall, 'Equality and Difference: Queering Guyane?'
Conclusion: remaking Guyane?
