Bumidom (1963-1982) and Its Afterlives - (New Directions in Francophone Studies: Diversity, Decolonisation, Queerness) by Antonia Wimbush

About the Book

Examines the literary and cultural legacy of the BUMIDOM in France and the French Caribbean.

Book Synopsis

This book investigates cultural representations of the BUMIDOM (Bureau pour le développement des migrations dans les départements d'outre-mer), a state-organised migration scheme which brought workers from Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion and French Guiana to mainland France between 1963 and 1982. It argues that the French government has not sufficiently commemorated the BUMIDOM through national frameworks such as museums and education systems. This would mean admitting that participants, who were French citizens, were treated as racialised migrants and second-class-citizens. Through a series of original case studies spanning life writing, novels, films, bande dessinée, children's fiction and music, the study demonstrates that it is cultural practitioners who, in the absence of adequate state representation, are undertaking this important memory work themselves. In a period in which Black identity is increasingly entering public debate in France, the book raises urgent questions about what it means to be a French citizen and a racial minority.

Review Quotes

Drawing on fieldwork, extensive archival research and analysis of a rich corpus of literature, music and film, Antonia Wimbush tells a story of migration from the Caribbean to Europe that has been largely silenced in France itself. Recovering occluded narratives and reflecting on their contemporary afterlives, this account of BUMIDOM as a postcolonial lieu de mémoire constitutes a highly significant intervention. The result is essential reading for all serious scholars and students of the French Caribbean, of post-war France - and of the histories of migration more broadly.--Charles Forsdick, University of Cambridge