HUMAN PATTERNS

Three demographic facts distinguish the human geography of French Guiana. First, the population is very small, barely enough to fill a modest city in many parts of the world. Second, the population is nevertheless quite diverse, a result of centuries of colonial migration. And third, recent demographic growth, much of it coming from immigration, has significantly altered the ethnic landscape. Here I will enumerate only the major groups, and echo Ken Bilby's proviso that if one were to count all the finer distinctions made, the list could easily pass a hundred.^[39] The Amerindian population found within the territory includes six groups: the Arawak, Emerillon, Kaliña (Galibi), Palikur, Wayana, and Wayampi. The ancestors of the Arawak and Kaliña, who today live on the coast and are the most integrated of the Amerindian communities, and possibly those of the Emerillon and Palikur, were present in Guyane when the French arrived. The forebears of the Wayana and Wayampi most likely entered French Guiana from Brazil at some point in the eighteenth or nineteenth century. The total population for all groups is something in the range of four thousand to five thousand persons, over half of whom are Kaliña. The Wayana, Wayampi, and Emerillon, all of whom live in the interior, remain the most distinct in terms of dress and cultural behavior.^[40] The Europeans who arrived in the seventeenth through nineteenth century left few descendants, and the “Metropolitans” who currently live in French Guiana are more recent immigrants, mostly centered around Cayenne, the administrative center, and Kourou, the space town. That segment of the population known as “Creoles,” the descendants of former African slaves,

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immigrants from elsewhere in the West Indies, and Europeans, comprises the largest single block. In addition to Creoles identified as “Guyanais,” there are also Creoles from the French and British Antilles and a large and particularly distinct group of recent immigrants from Haiti. The descendants of African slaves (largely from the plantations of Dutch Guiana) who escaped to establish separate societies in the interior between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries are known as “Maroons.” Within French Guiana several groups of Maroons play significant roles, including the Aluku (who enjoy French citizenship) and the Saramaka, Ndjuka, and Paramaka, many of whom crossed the river into French Guiana following unrest in Suriname.^[41] Brazilians, who have arrived in ever-increasing numbers throughout the 1990s, make up the fastest growing immigrant group, while the Chinese, despite their relatively small numbers, occupy a position of social prominence as a result of their near-monopoly on small food stores and related commerce.

An imperfect ethnic breakdown in 1985, prior to the major influx of Brazilians and Maroon refugees, ran as follows: Guyanais Creoles 43 percent, Haitians 22 percent, Metropolitans 8 percent, Maroons 6 percent, Brazilians 6 percent, French Antillian Creoles 5 percent, Amerindians 4 percent, Anglophone Caribbeans 3 percent, Chinese 1 percent, Hmong 1 percent, and Suriname Creoles 1 percent. Since that time the population has grown considerably, with a 1992 estimate of 131,000 and a 1994 figure of 150,000.^[42] Taken as a whole the population is very young; more than half the inhabitants are under twenty-five years of age. The birthrate is almost seven times higher than the death rate, and if growth matches predictions, the total population will near 200,000 in the year 2000 census.^[43]

Because my main focus is on actors arriving in the tropics from Europe, internal tensions surrounding identity in French Guiana remain muted in this work. However, it is important to note that a crucial social divide runs between the coast (where the vast majority of the population lives) and the interior (rarely visited by those who live on the coast). The status of “native” identity remains in question across this very divide: it is most often claimed by Guyanais Creoles in opposition to Metropolitan norms, but it is always hedged by the existence of “more natural” Amerindians and Maroons in the interior. In the face of continued immigration, the position of Guyanais Creoles—the dominant non-European segment of the population—has only grown more symbolically embattled.^[44]