Description
Book SynopsisAnalyses the complex relationship between the coloniser and colonised on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion. Through novels, iconography, and texts from various disciplines including law, medicine, and psychology, this title constructs a political and cultural history of the island's relations with France.
Trade Review“A brilliant piece of work. . . .
Monsters and Revolutionaries promises to be an important intervention in the fields of political history and postcolonial discourse.”—Ali Behdad, University of California at Los Angeles
“[Vergès’s] richly textured exploration of ‘metissage’ as a discursive strategy of identification, assimilation, and resistance is driven by a fluent engagement with concepts drawn from contemporary criticism, history, psychoanalysis, and philosophy and has the broadest implications right across the postcolonial world. A major innovative study that will shape the field.”—Stuart Hall, Emeritus Professor, The Open University and Goldsmith’s College, London
Table of ContentsIllustrations ix
Preface: Bitter Sugar's Island xi
Acknowledgments xix
The Family Romance of French Colonialism and Métissage 1
Contested Family Romances: Slaves, Workers, Children 22
Blood Politics and Political Assimilation 72
"Oté Debré, rouver la port lenfer, Diab kominis i sa rentré": Cold War Demonology in the Postcolony 123
Single Mothers, Missing Fathers, and French Psychiatrists 185
Epilogue: A Small Island 246
Notes 251
Bibliography 353
Index 389
