Child development in post-colonial contexts: educational change and ethnic transfiguration in a French Guiana Wayana-Apalaï indigenous community

International audience; This paper presents a first attempt to describe an emergent dynamic: the transformation of family educational practices between Wayana-Apalaï indigenous people of French Guiana. Ethnographic data collected between 2010 and 2013 show a large set of variations concerning care-giving time, housekeeping charges or the frequency of traditional activities. Taking into account the role of schooling and based on a critical analysis of the socioeconomic and historical context, the authors interpreted the data as demonstrating the hypothesis that Wayana-Apalaï have been involved in a process of Ethnic Transfiguration which in return has had a deep impact on traditional lifestyle, on community schemes for youth training and education and, last but not least, on child social development.