Indexing whiteness: practices of categorization and racialization of social relations among Maroons in French Guiana
Fiche du document
2023
- ISIDORE Id: 10670/1.a481d3...
- hal: hal-04181823
- doi: 10.1515/ijsl-2022-0066
Ce document est lié à :
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1515/ijsl-2022-0066
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess
Sujets proches
Language (New words, slang, etc.) Mechanical perspective Linear perspective Architectural perspective Frenchmen (French people) Relations--Foreign countries Relations (Canon law)Citer ce document
Isabelle Léglise et al., « Indexing whiteness: practices of categorization and racialization of social relations among Maroons in French Guiana », HALSHS : archive ouverte en Sciences de l’Homme et de la Société, ID : 10.1515/ijsl-2022-0066
Métriques
Partage / Export
Résumé
This article investigates racial/ethnic categorizations designating the majority in a minority language and their uses and meanings in everyday interactions to grasp the dynamics of racialization from the perspective of minoritized people. The investigation focuses on the varieties of the language called Businenge(e) Tongo locally or Eastern Maroon Creoles spoken by Maroon populations living in French Guiana and Suriname. We first examine the different terms used to refer to whiteness, such as bakaa , wetiman and poyte , from a historical perspective using historical documents before examining their uses in contemporary conversations. The analysis in the final part focuses on interactions at the hospital of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni. The paper combines two approaches: the sociology of social relations and social approaches to language rooted in ethnography. The distinction between the three terms allows considering race as indexing power relations. Naming whiteness is thus a way of providing a critical perspective on the social order.
