Abstract

LEOBAL, Clémence. Becoming "free" thanks to social housing? : Maroon appropriations in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni (French Guiana). Etnográfica [online]. 2020, vol.24, n.3, pp.703-724. ISSN 0873-6561.  https://doi.org/10.4000/etnografica.9461.

In this article, I analyse the appropriations of social housing within maroon working classes in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni in French Guiana. I show that issues of power within the house are intricately linked to state governing modes. For their occupants, social housing materializes social ascent and urban integration, or marital emancipation for women: this “change of life” allows them to become “free” (frey). The residents mark the exterior and/or interior space and claim the development of the neighbourhood. The adjustments they make are denounced by the French authorities, along class, race, and nationality boundaries. The issues of “house government” therefore inextricably combine the power relations within a kinship group or a couple, and tensions between inhabitants and French authorities.

Keywords : appropriations of social housing; configurations of houses; kinship; State; maroons; French Guiana.

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