Decoloniality and politics of recognition among the Indigènes de la République

https://doi.org/10.25058/20112742.84

Roberto D. Hernández
rhernandez@mail.sdsu.edu
San Diego State University, USA

Abstract:

This article analyses the ways in which Le Parti des Indigènes de la République in France mobilizes and re-signifies the term indigene (or indigenous), from its original use in the French colonial context as a word to describe colonial subjects irrespective of place of origin. In the process, Les Indigènes highlight and make explicit what they call a “postcolonial colonialism” that continues into the present with regards to France’s relationship to its former colonial subjects and their children, particularly made evident with France’s Muslim population. As such, they shatter the normative politics of recognition that other ‘minority’ populations often embrace and instead advance a decolonial praxis of the affirmation of life, self and being.

Keywords: France, indigenous, colonialism, postcolonial, decolonial, recognition.