Book

The remaking of the Aluku: culture, politics, and Maroon ethnicity in French South America

University Microfilms International • Ann Arbor, Mich. • Published In 1997 • Pages:

By: Bilby, Kenneth M..

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document

Bilby has written a rich ethnographic account of cultural change and identity among the Aluku. The first three chapters lay out the theoretical perspective, ethnic landscape and history of French Guiana. The following chapters focus on five different communities, including two interior, predominantly Aluku communities, and three ethnically-mixed coastal towns: St. Laurent-du-Maroni, the French space center of Kourou, and the capital of French Guiana, Cayenne. Bibly shows how the Aluku maintain a distinct identity in each community in relation to other ethnic groups, primarily other maroons and Creoles. Settlement patterns, demographics, Aluku cultural history, and the ideology and bureaucracy of a modern nation state have all influenced the way the Aluku construct their identity and maintain their uniqueness. Bilby provides a good account of traditional Aluku social organization and religion, as well as, the settlement patterns of coastal shantytowns.

SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF

Internal migration

Cultural identity and pride

Settlement patterns

Ethnic stratification

Inter-ethnic relations

Territorial organization

cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)

Ndyuka

HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document

1999

RegionThe area the document pertains to

South America

Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region

Amazon and Orinoco

Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs

Book

Evaluation

Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.

Ethnologist

Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.

4: Excellent Secondary Data

5: Excellent Primary Data

AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection

Ian Skoggard ; 1997

Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document

1983-1987

Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to

1500-1989

Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)

Aluku tribe, French Guiana

NotesAdditional notes

Kenneth M. Bilby

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- Johns Hopkins University, 1990

UM 9030171

Includes bibliographical references (p. 682-717)

LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings

Djuka people