"The Idea of the Nation Was Superior to Race": Transforming Racial Contours and Social Attitudes and Decolonizing the French Empire from La Reunion, 1946-1973

Scholars assume the loss of Algeria in 1962 marked the end of French colonialism and a hardening of racialized categories of difference in France, overlooking how race and class categories became more porous in the overseas departments (departements d'outre-mer, or DOMs) after a new, welfare-led, French colonialism was initiated by Prime Minister Michel Debre (elected deputy of La Reunion in 1963). Comparing the provision of social welfare in the DOMs before and after 1962 demonstrates that Debre's new health insurance, family allocations, and housing laws offered DOM populations improved social mobility beyond colonial-era racial boundaries. Welfare encouraged Reunion Islanders to support political attachment to France and undermined support for DOM autonomy movements. Combining scholarship on decolonization, French welfare, and the social history of La Reunion, the article reevaluates the place of French overseas departments in decolonization history, in studies of French racial categories, and in modern France.