ABSTRACT
The importance of métissage in the political history of the French Republic is highlighted by an examination of the French Revolution, which is commonly understood as the foundational moment not only of the modern French state but more broadly of modern-day practices of citizenship. In 1789, at the beginning of the French Revolution, the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique and St. Domingue represented the world’s most valuable colonial possessions. The conflicts over the meaning of citizenship in the French colonies during the late eighteenth century were of course only the first volley in a longer history of colonialism which forged the contemporary structures and meanings of Republican political culture. The movement has challenged the categories through which immigrants are named and therefore are marginalized within the French Republic. The power of political symbols, in this case the French national team’s success, should not be underestimated in determining the course of the Republic.
