La Polynésie française à la recherche de son identité
Abstracts
This paper looks at identity problems in French Polynesia, an overseas territory confronted with crucial changes after French government’s decision to stop nuclear testing in Tuamotu archipelago. Nuclear experiments which started in the mid-sixties have ended for good in 1996 after a three years’ moratorium and an ultimate range of tests. Then, to prepare the after-CEP period, national and territorial authorities launched negotiations which lead onto an orientation law and a strategic program attesting French commitment to the territory and ensuring him important financial compensations for the next ten years. As for French Polynesia authorities, they engaged themselves to allocate the money to productive activities in order to reduce dependency from the mother country. Concomitantly, a new status was elaborated giving greater autonomy to the Territory and enabling him to develop relations with other countries on the regional and international scene. All these changes associated with difficult times have locally generated an identiy crisis and a search for roots which is still going on. They have also opened onto a new pattern of relationship between the Territory and the mother country as well as between Tahiti and outer islands. The trend is particularly strong in remote islands which have been durably kept out of development policies and financial support all along the past years. This paper is committed to these topics and looks at identity not as a fixed cultural feature but as a complex and evolutive process set up by well identified agents.
Index terms
Mots-clés :
autonomie, dépendance, essais nucléaires, identité, rapports entre Tahiti et la métropole, rapports entre Tahiti et les archipels éloignésKeywords:
dependency, identity, nuclear experiments, relations between Tahiti and remote islands, relations between Tahiti et French governmentGéographique:
TahitiReferences
Bibliographical reference
Gilles Blanchet, “La Polynésie française à la recherche de son identité”, Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 116 | 2003, 3-12.
Electronic reference
Gilles Blanchet, “La Polynésie française à la recherche de son identité”, Journal de la Société des Océanistes [Online], 116 | Année 2003-1, Online since 26 May 2008, connection on 18 April 2024. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/jso/1127; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/jso.1127
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