Becoming « Demi » in French Polynesia
Based on doctoral research and interviews conducted between 2004 and 2007 with fifty-four people in « mixed » (« Mainlander »-« Polynesian ») couples in Tahiti and Moorea, this article analyzes the social uses of the category of ethnic mixing : « Demi ». French Polynesia having been the site of intercontinental migrations and ethnic mixing for 200 years, Michel Panoff (1989) estimated that « unmixed » Polynesians no longer existed. Other authors advance that the « Demis » represent purely a social class (Rallu et al. 1997). In this context, what symbolic criteria are employed to distinguish the category « Demi » from other ethnic categories in contemporary French Polynesia ? The historical genesis of this category predicts, in its contemporary use, the strong link with socioeconomic status. Yet the results of this work indicate another factor which weighs on ethnic categorization : gender. Although the ambiguity of social distinctions between « Polynesians » and « Demis » rely entirely upon the use of socioeconomic status symbols in a capitalistic and Western value-system, the distinction only becomes salient for men. This article shall consider these dynamic modes of categorization and distinction between ethnic categories which mobilize both socioeconomic status and gender.