2017
Cairn
Geoffroy Filoche et al., « La construction de l’État français en Guyane à l’épreuve de la mobilité des peuples amérindiens », Critique internationale, ID : 10670/1.935e0f...
As a problematic, the mobility of the Amerindians of Guyana – a fundamental characteristic of their traditional way of life – is inseparable from the question of their rights over the land they occupy. Although it allows these populations to avoid intra- and inter-communitarian conflicts, this mobility can also be a source of conflict when space and natural resources are less readily available and the need to arbitrate the use of space among Amerindians, nonnative populations, elected officials and the dispersed services of the state has been placed on the national political agenda. The present article examines the ways in which the French state compromises with native communities as well as the manner in which the rights granted to them affect their practices of occupying space. More generally, it seeks to show that, as the state’s reach extends to formerly peripheral spaces (where communities had been left some leeway) and its inclination to organize them grows, the political administration of Amerindian mobility becomes an increasingly sensitive issue.