New Caledonia: death of Déwé Gorodey, pioneer of Kanak literature and the struggle for independence

Novelist and independence activist Déwé Gorodey (or Gorodey) died in New Caledonia on August 14, 2022. © wikimedia

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We learned of the death of the novelist Déwé Gorodey, Sunday August 14, at the age of 73.

Also a pioneer in the struggle for the independence of New Caledonia, the writer had suffered from cancer for many years.

This Monday, the tributes to his work and his commitment are multiplying.

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She was the first Kanak novelist and a committed woman.

The New Caledonian collegiate government pays tribute to an "independence politician and Kanak writer of international renown, who marked the life" of the local executive.

The New Caledonian cultural world also salutes this Monday the legacy of her action within the government of which she was a member for twenty years from 1999 to 2019, in charge in particular of culture, the status of women and citizenship.

She was at the origin of the creation of several cultural institutions such as the Maison du livre, the Kanak Languages ​​Academy, the Oceanian International Book Fair (Silo), or the Music and Dance Export Center (Poemar ).

Committed woman and activist of the independence cause.

The FLNKS, historic coalition of the Kanak struggle, salutes "a great lady of heart and spirit", who "has always fought for the freedom of her people and the full sovereignty of her country".

"Her battle of the heart, the defense of Kanak culture and identity", underlines in metropolitan France the French Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, who salutes the memory of a "proud and generous woman to whom to pay tribute today today is a duty and an honour”.

Déwé Gorodey (or Gorodey) died in hospital in Poindimié, on the east coast of New Caledonia, the government said.

Born in 1949 in Ponérihouen, in the Embouchure tribe, it was in metropolitan France, in Montpellier, that Déwé Gorodey studied literature between 1969 and 1973 and obtained a degree in Modern Literature.

She opened up to both writing and politics, soaking up the protest and liberation ideas of May 68.

A work rooted in Kanak culture

As soon as she returned to her native island, she became involved in the first Kanak independence movements and participated in militant actions, which earned her several stays in prison, in 1974 and 1978. She participated in the creation of the Palika (Kanak liberation party , one of the components of the FLNKS) in 1976 and composed - behind bars - his first collection of poetry entitled

Short stories and aphorisms follow one another, a play (

), and a novel in 2005, 

the first Kanak novel ever published in which this committed feminist breaks the taboo of sexual abuse and violence against women.

Another novel will follow, 

(2009) and in 2012, a

 in which it summons the whole universe of Kanak culture.

for which she will be invited to the Etonnants Voyageurs festival in Saint-Malo.

“ 

 ", recalled Gilbert Bladinières, his publisher. in New Caledonia.

(with agencies)

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