La construction de l'identité mahoraise

This course explores the historical and political construction of Mahoran identity within the broader context of French colonial legacies and postcolonial dynamics. Focusing on the secession of Mayotte from the Comorian archipelago, it examines how local actors, colonial administrators, and geopolitical interests shaped the island’s trajectory from the 19th century to its official departmentalization in 2011. Through historical documents, political speeches, fiction, and statistical data, students are invited to critically engage with the concept of the “department-colony” (Carayol, 2024) and to analyze the socio-economic and symbolic implications of Mayotte’s integration into the French Republic. The course highlights the tensions between local agency and external domination, between the desire for equality and the persistence of colonial asymmetries. By studying key moments—such as the 1841 treaty, the referendums of 1974 and 2009, and the mobilization of the “chatouilleuses”—it becomes clear that Mahoran identity was not inherited, but actively produced within complex power dynamics.