Islands of islands: responses to the centre-periphery fractal model in East Futuna (Wallis and Futuna) and the Belep Islands (New Caledonia)

Starting from two case studies, the Belep Islands (New Caledonia) and Futuna (Wallis and Futuna), this essay presents the hypothesis that colonial and post-colonial dynamics tend to reproduce, as in fractals, the centre-periphery model. In the ‘Francophone Pacific’ inter-island relationships have historically been created in which the peripheral islands of islands claim their autonomy and, at times, their total independence from the central island. This is the case for Futuna, a peripheral Polynesian island that claims autonomy from Wallis. It is also the case for Belep, in the extreme north of New Caledonia, which suffers from persistent marginality with regard to the Grande Terre. Decolonisation of Futuna and Belep seems possible at the cost of dismantling the centre-periphery fractal model. These islands of islands show us how the reticular model, the enhancement of relationships and reciprocity, and the recovery of their complexity are a possible way out of colonialism.