Seeking Imperialism's Embrace

In 1946, at a time when other French colonies were just beginning to break free of French imperial control after World War II, the people of the French Antilles-the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe-voted to join the French nation as departments (Departments d'outre mer, or DOMs). For A [...]
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In 1946, at a time when other French colonies were just beginning to break free of French imperial control after World War II, the people of the French Antilles-the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe-voted to join the French nation as departments (Departments d'outre mer, or DOMs). For Antilleans, eschewing independence in favor of complete integration with the metropole was the natural culmination of a centuries-long quest for equality with France and a means of overcoming the entrenched political and economic power of the white minority on the islands, the Bekes. Disappointment with departmentalization set in quickly, however, as the equality promised was slow in coming and Antillean contributions to the war effort went unrecognized. In analyzing the complex considerations surrounding the integration of the French Antilleans, Seeking Imperialism's Embrace explores how the major developments of post-WWII history-economic recovery, great power politics, global populat