"Miss Eurafrica": Men, Women's Sexuality, and Métis Identity in Late Colonial French Africa, 1945-1960

From the Journal of the History of Sexuality

The 1960 issue of the magazine L'Eurafricain (The Eurafrican) featured a cover photo of a woman announced as "Miss L'Eurafrique" (figure 1). 1 Edited from Dakar under the auspices of the Union internationale des métis (International Union of Mixed-Race Persons), the magazine was written in French and printed in Paris. The membership of the union consisted of métis primarily from French-ruled sub-Saharan Africa. The primary mandate of the union was to advocate for financial, moral, and educational assistance to métis children. Published once or twice a year between 1945 and 1960, L'Eurafricain was the public face of the organization. The publication was a medium through which contributors sought to cultivate a sense of common identity among métis persons across geographical boundaries, facilitate communication among members, report on various métis social and cultural events, and promote the organization's lobbying efforts. Contributors to L'Eurafricain included métis across French-speaking Africa as well as some black and white benefactors. It is not clear from extant records whether an actual pageant was held, what the criteria for judging were, who witnessed the pageant, how many contestants competed, and from where in French Africa these contestants hailed. The photo is a headshot of a café au lait-toned woman identified as Miss Marie Céline, a "young métisse (mixed-race woman) of Niger."