When I started researching prisoners and exiles from French Indochina, over fifteen years ago, one of the most haunting prisoners I encountered was a young scholar named Lý Liễu. He had gone to Hong Kong to study at the age of twelve and ended up becoming involved in anti-colonial politics. Continue Reading
Exhibition: Exiles and Prisoners from French Indochina in New Caledonia (Part 1)
This blog presents the first part of an exhibition that launched at the Amicale Vietnamienne, Nouméa, on 21 February 2024. The exhibition – presented here in the English version – explores the history of deportation and exile from French Indochina to New Caledonia, within its global context. Readers might be Continue Reading
Of Satellites and Sentiment: the descendants of Vietnamese prisoners in French Guiana
On April 18 2008, Vietnamese journalist Danh Đức was standing in the rain at the Kourou Space Centre, the European Space Agency’s spaceport in French Guiana, a territory that is, as an overseas département, still an integral part of France. Eyes heavenward, Danh Đức was eager to witness the launch Continue Reading
An Algerian Prisoner in New Caledonia Part 2: The Descendants of Abdelkader ben Cherfia
In a previous blog, An Algerian Prisoner in New Caledonia, we began the story of Abdelkader ben Cherfia. A blacksmith from Blida, Abdelkader met an untimely death as a murder victim at the hands of his wife, Peroline Langevin, in 1901. His death notwithstanding, Abdelkader ben Cherfia’s life story reflected Continue Reading
Shifting The Gaze on Histories of Penal Transportation
In some of our recent writing (available freely here and here) and in some of our recent talks we have been arguing in favour of approaches to the history of convict transportation that started in the receiving destinations: the penal colonies. Our ambition was to move the focus of our Continue Reading