Secular teachers in Guadeloupe: vocational identity and social interactions (1880-1914)
Through a combined approach of gender and networks, the study focuses on the first generation of secular teachers in Guadeloupe, the most significant vocational group (numerically speaking) within the colonial administration at the beginning of the twentieth century. It explores the construction of their vocational identity, the sociability of the members and the interpersonal relations between individuals and entities outside of the group. This study highlights a turning point in the history of Guadeloupe, at the time of school’s secularization and a greater participation of Blacks into politics, trade unions and associations. It also questions the opportunities given by the republican school in terms of social mobility and the conditions for social reorganization within a colonial context.