Empire's Children

Pupilles de L'empire

“…As Saada has shown, the category of pupille de la nation would itself constitute an important precedent for the eventual legal and social conceptualization of the relationship between the métis assimilated by the decree of 1928 and the French state. 113 The policy of repatriation would also be the dominant feature of the French state's provision for assimilated métis, resulting in a mass movement of thousands of adults and at least forty-five hundred minors from their homeland to a metropole that was almost completely foreign to them. 114 Thus, while the scope of the pupilles de la nation program in the colony was extremely limited, its repercussions may well have been felt by thousands of people.…”

“…If this had been incorporated into the law, it would in fact have preempted, by several years, the Decree of the Governor-General of Indochina of November 8, 1928, which recognized the claim to citizenship of métis on the basis of their racial origins, thus introducing the notion of race into French jurisprudence. 97 The influence of the lobby that would secure this legal recognition of the citizenship of the métis is clear in his approach to the program of the pupilles de la nation. 98 It also reflects a desire, shared by administrators in Cambodia and Madagascar, to adapt the law in favour of a population that stood outside the neat categories of "indigenous subject" and "European citizen.…”

“…90 It was in Indochina that the métis question had always received the most attention, and the case of the pupilles de la nation was no exception in this regard. 91 In his report to Governor-General Sarraut in Hanoi, the resident superior of Cambodia, who was theoretically committed to total equality in the application of the law to both subjects and citizens, specifically stated the need to ensure that unrecognized métis "should have the same treatment as French citizens and can be sent to France in the same conditions." 92 In Tonkin, the question of the métis dominated correspondence about the organization of the program.…”

“…As Emmanuelle Saada has shown in her magisterial Empire's Children, the "métis question" was a key site in which colonial authorities attempted to delineate and define nationality and citizenship. 85 For Saada, the case of nonrecognised métis, which lay at the intersection of hybridity and illegitimacy, placed the racial question firmly at the heart of legal debate. 86 In terms of social provision, the implications of the legal status of the métis, unrecognized by his or her French father and thus subject to the mother's personal status as an indigène, were extremely important.…”

“…95 Of course, the priority of the métis over the indigenous had long been reflected in social provision across the empire. 96 The novel aspect of the resident superior's proposal lies in its desire to recognize this priority through the creation of a specific legal category. If this had been incorporated into the law, it would in fact have preempted, by several years, the Decree of the Governor-General of Indochina of November 8, 1928, which recognized the claim to citizenship of métis on the basis of their racial origins, thus introducing the notion of race into French jurisprudence.…”