National Versus Racial Identity In The French States of America: The 2007 Elections in Context

FAIN: FT-54998-07

William F.S. Miles
Northeastern University (Boston, MA 02115-5005)

One million French citizens, mostly Black descendents of African slaves, reside in the three French States of America (FSA) in the greater Caribbean. Deviating from classical patterns of nationalism and democracy, since 1946 the FSA have voluntarily undergone “decolonization without sovereignty”: transformation from colonial status by rejecting independence and integrating within France. NEH research will assess this strategy, especially as it challenges democratization theory. FSA participation in the 2007 French presidential elections will provide recent context for analysis. Colonial history, sociology of race, and comparative politics will be invoked, in book chapter and journal articles, to assess six decades of statehood in the FSA.

Associated Products

Once Again, From a Distance (Martinique and the French Presidential Elections of 2007) (Article)
Title: Once Again, From a Distance (Martinique and the French Presidential Elections of 2007)
Author: William Miles
Abstract: Who won the 2007 French presidential elections? Do electoral outcomes overseas herald a more formal separation from metropolitan France? The political and electoral reality of overseas France is much more complext, nuanced, and paradoxical than the above question suggests.
Year: 2007
Primary URL: http://www.interieur.gouv.fr/sections/a_votre_service/resultats-elections/PR2007/index.html
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: French Politics, Culture and Society, Vol. 25, No. 3, Winter 2007

From Cesaire to "Sarko": Generational and Ideological Transitions in Martinique and France (Article)
Title: From Cesaire to "Sarko": Generational and Ideological Transitions in Martinique and France
Author: William Miles
Abstract: Nicolas Sarkozy's May 2007 election as president of France should not obscure the conservative conservative candidate's overall defeat in the Fench overseas departments and territories (Miles, "once Again").
Year: 2010
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Contemporary French Civilization, Winter/Spring 2010, Vol. 34, No. 1

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