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Dossier Nouvelle Calédonie, 150 ans après la prise de possession

The Kanak Awakening of 1969-1976: Radicalizing Anti-Colonialism in New Caledonia

David Chappell
p. 187-202

Abstracts

This article examines the roots of the tragic “events” of the 1980s in New Caledonia, arguing that the Kanak Awakening of 1969 resulted from a convergence of powerful structural forces, such as the recolonization of the territory by France in the 1960s, accompanied by massive immigration during a nickel mining boom, and the return home of radicalized Kanak and Caledonian students from France, where they had experienced the May 1968 studentworker uprising. The gradual, multi-ethnic trend toward autonomy by the Union calédonienne had been interrupted, but the advocacy of revolutionary Kanak Independence polarized the population along ethnic and political lines. Today, France is again granting autonomy to New Caledonia, but two visions of nationhood are in competition: remaining loyal to France or becoming a sovereign state.

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Errata

p. 194, column 2, line 27: correct citation should be (Sikiss 1968-69)

p. 199, column 1, line 7 from bottom: “Chirac’s response was” [not TA]; and line 4 from bottom, “has become” should precede “outdated,” and the following “ago” deleted.

p. 200, column 2, line 15, (Tchoeaoua 1984) was President of the Association pour la Fondation d’un Institut Kanak d’Histoire Moderne.

p. 201, missing citation: BELL, David, 2001. The Cult of the Nation in France: Inventing Nationalism, 1680-1800.  Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Interviews in Noumea in 2000-2001 cited: Henri BAILLY, Louis-José BARBANÇON, Jean-Paul CAILLARD, Lionel CHERRIER, Déwé GORODÉ, Elie POIGOUNE, Fote TROLUE.

References

Bibliographical reference

David Chappell, “The Kanak Awakening of 1969-1976: Radicalizing Anti-Colonialism in New Caledonia”Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 117 | 2003, 187-202.

Electronic reference

David Chappell, “The Kanak Awakening of 1969-1976: Radicalizing Anti-Colonialism in New Caledonia”Journal de la Société des Océanistes [Online], 117 | Année 2003-2, Online since 02 July 2008, connection on 29 March 2024. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/jso/1268; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/jso.1268

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About the author

David Chappell

Associate Professor of Pacific Islands History, Department of History, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, dchappel@hawaii.edu

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Copyright

CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

The text only may be used under licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. All other elements (illustrations, imported files) are “All rights reserved”, unless otherwise stated.

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