In 1946, after more than three hundred years as French colonies, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and French Guiana were transformed into -overseas departments- of France, equal and identical in theory to any French department. This book assesses the effects of almost half a century of political assimilation into France and asks to what extent the high standard of living enjoyed by French West Indians today has been offset by losses on the political, cultural, and psychological levels.

The book, whose contributors come from the French West Indies themselves and from Britain and Jamaica,...