Kunapipi XXVI:1

BONNIE THOMAS
Reflections on the French Caribbean Woman: The Femme Matador in Fact and Fiction

A recurrent image of women to emerge in the history and literature of the French Caribbean is that of the femme matador, or the fighting woman who courageously resists life’s trials. This gendered figure is frequently placed in opposition to the Caribbean male who flits about as carefree as a butterfly. A direct product of Martinique and Guadeloupe’s historical experiences under slavery, the femme matador developed out of the need to survive in a social system hostile to black slaves. While men in the French Caribbean reacted to the injustices of plantation society by retreating into patterns of irresponsibility (Condé 1979, 36), women assumed the role of pivot of the family and bravely battled to secure the future of their partner and children. As an outstanding example of female strength, the femme matador appears as a potential icon of the feminist movement. However, a brief overview of the history and sociology of the region, coupled with a consideration of the representation of these women in contemporary literature, reveals the harsh realities behind this enduring figure in French Caribbean culture. The various representations of the femme matador also intersect with contemporary shifts in gendered ideas of national community-building, demonstrating a renewed acceptance of the importance of women in the public realm as well as the private.

The powerful presence of the femme matador is nowhere more evident than in the integral role she plays in the family. While sociologists such as Raymond Smith1 and Diane Austin2 have demonstrated that a range of households exist in the Caribbean, including some with male heads, the majority remain matrifocal. A kaleidoscope of studies attests to the continuing prominence of women in the family, both in bringing up the children and in providing a regular income. Francesca Velayoudom Faithful maintains that women are traditionally the strongholds of the family and that the mother passes on the flame of responsibility to her daughter (112). In Le Couteau seul: la condition féminine aux Antilles, France Alibar and Pierrette Lembeye-Boy present the testimonies of a number of Guadeloupean women in their familial milieu. Typical recollections of a daughter towards her mother include those by Agathe, a 20-year-old woman, who says ‘our family was my mother’ and Gerty, a 28-year-old teacher, who remarks ‘she is really a woman who sacrificed everything for her family, her children and I think she succeeded’ (Alibar and Lembeye-Boy 27).3 In contrast to the strength and stability of the mother, many children remember the absence of their father and the irregularity of his involvement in the family. A further testimony comes from Georgette, a 62-year-old Guadeloupean agricultural worker, who remembers her father’s lack of involvement in her life: ‘My father? Well, my father didn’t acknowledge me…. He never acknowledged any of his children and he had a lot of children: six to different mothers’ (Alibar and Lembeye-Boy 29). Novelist and theorist Patrick Chamoiseau has also remarked on this phenomenon, noting that ‘the culture of the family remains matrifocal. That is to say, the big, fundamental decisions are always made, initiated, carried out and organized by women in a more or less direct manner’ (Chamoiseau 2001). As these tributes highlight, the French Caribbean woman is at the centre of the family and she is the one who provides both the material and emotional needs of her children, partner and society.