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This chapter focuses on the presence of the many cats in the house of Tooy in Cayenne, French Guiana. Tooy and his assistants are always driving the cats away but they keep coming back. They do not like to have cats in the house because the Komanti spirits that Tooy deals with cannot tolerate these miniature versions of their tiger-selves, nor can he hear their true name. This chapter also discusses Tooy's story telling of his personal encounter with a tiger and his father who had powerful Komanti spirit.

This chapter discusses Tooy's enstoolment as the first Saramaka captain of Cayenne, French Guiana on June 30, 2001. It describes the enstoolment celebration and Tooy's admission that he was worried about the envy and the sorcery his new position will inevitably bring. He also admitted that he was not at all sure about being a captain.

This chapter describes the bright-pink concrete house of Kaluse, Tooy's assistant in healing. The house is located in one of the rougher neighborhoods of Cayenne, French Guiana and the backyard serves as a kind of community center for migrant Saramakas who would come for divination sessions, political debate, or just to hang out, listening to music cassettes from home. Because of the ample space under the eaves, the house was a frequent venue for Saramaka wakes, where men would come to pay their last respects.

This chapter discusses the assault on Tooy in July 2001, just a week after his enstoolment as Saramaka captain of Cayenne. According to Tooy, he saw the assault coming as a result of several conflicts, including his differences with the Association of Young Active Saramakas of Guyane. This chapter also highlights the decision of Ronald to withdraw as Tooy's client. This made Tooy extremely worried because the idea that Saramakas were not competent to solve a problem such as Roland's was a collective shame.

This chapter relates the author's experience in having Tooy, a Samaraka priest from Cayenne, French Guiana, help his friend Roland with his problems using voodoo or supernatural methods. It explains the specific problems Roland had regarding his business and describes the procedure Tooy undertook in helping Roland. This involved a photocopy of something that Tooy brought with him and smoking Roland's lumberyard. Tooy suggested that what was causing Roland's problem could be related to a woman.

This chapter discusses the next step in Tooy's voodoo treatment of Roland. It describes the procedure which involved a bag of toad, empty beer bottles, six supermarket eggs, and some king of liquid from a clay Dungulali-Obia bottle and leaves, roots and vines that Tooy brought with him from Cayenne. This chapter also discusses the Samarakas' belief that the gaan-o bias remain as each clan's most valuable possessions and many are believed to have been brought by specific ancestors from Africa.

This chapter describes Tooy's house in Cayenne, French Guiana. Tooy lives at the edge of the city where Cayenne meets the forest. He has lived in this spot for almost twenty years, since the government drained the mangrove swamp on which it sits. This chapter also describes the place of treatment in Tooy's house. He is visited by clients from different countries and the consultations are more about physical ailment or a problem with a job, a lover, or a spouse. This chapter also discusses Tooy's story about a possession god called Flibanti.

This introductory chapter discusses the theme of this volume which is about the history and culture of the French Atlantic. This volume focuses six cities and one archipelago within the French Atlantic including Nantes, La Rochelle, Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, Quebec City, New Orleans, Cayenne and Montevideo. It examines the historical and spatial location of each site and analyses the cultural issues in relationship to the French Atlantic that each embodies. This volume also considers the notion of French nationalism and French cultural and foreign policy.

This chapter examines the history and culture of Cayenne, Guyane in the context of the French Atlantic. It explains that identities in Guyane became highly contested sites from the second half of the nineteenth century and that cultural identity existed in tension between French republican assimilation and métissage in its various forms. It highlights the recurrent and visible degradation of white people in the history of Guyane and describes the representations of Cayenne in literature written by the Guyanais themselves.

This chapter presents a chronological history of Tooy's life. Tooy spent most of his early years with ritual specialists. His first trip outside Saramaka territory was in the early 1940s and in the 1950s he worked around the Haarlem area near the Saramacca River. Tooy first crossed over to Guyane in 1958, had a public works job, and was later employed in a timber camp in Moiwana. He moved to Cayenne about 1970.

This chapter focuses on the political problem of Tooy as Samaraka captain of Cayenne. It explains that some members of the Conseil General, the political body that officially recognizes Amerindian and Maroon captains, brought a Saramaka to the Aluku gaama and declared him captain of the Saramakas of Cayenne, leaving Tooy powerless. Another problem was the defection of Tooy's assistant Kaluse to his rival.