This programme deals with identity distribution through analysis of relations between modes of production of otherness, modes of political management and modes of State territorial production. These latter, through political and administrative injunctions, can organise the redistribution of identities that are conjointly statutory and territorial within one country or region (Mali). They can also refer to borders and border zones separating nation States (Guyana/ Surinam; Kenya/Uganda; Thailand/Laos), and to these States’ management of their territory and borders. Also concerned are the relations between North-South migratory networks and the administrative reforms (political and/or territorial) introduced by the host countries or the countries of origin (immigration legislation in France; decentralisation in Mali). These studies all consider (through long and medium term analysis) the reactive relations which govern the identity stances adopted by groups (and the delimitations that they draw within pre-existing continuums), as well as the diversely oriented interactions of these groups with “their” States. This program also incorporates the importance of the territorial dimension, thereby prompting reconsideration of the classic opposition between territories “of States”, “of cultures” or “of communities”.
