Les Marrons. Richard and Sally Price. Vents d’Ailleurs, 2003. 127 pp.

What is it about?

Most of the scholarly literature on Maroon populations is available only in Dutch or English, leaving a knowledge vacuum and a great deal of misunderstanding about Maroons in Guyane where, despite differences among them, they constitute one of the largest cultural groups, especially in the western part of This nice little book is both welcome and unique, being the first French language publication on the “Maroons of Suriname” living in Guyane, the French South American overseas department (formerly “French Guiana”). the department. The expertise of anthropologists Richard and Sally Price also makes Les Marrons particularly valuable.

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Why is it important?

The Prices, two of the world’s leading authorities in Surinamese Maroon studies, have nearly 40 years of intimate firsthand experience with Saamaka and the Eastern Maroons—Ndyuka, Aluku, and Pamaka—whose members have in great numbers migrated to Guyane. In addition to conducting meticulous and innovative ethnographic and historical research, they have done a great deal to educate the general public about Maroons. Les Marrons arose out of their social activism.