Propriété, citoyennetés et héritage de l'esclavage au Nord Bénin

The article analyses the elationship between citizenship and ownership of the self in a West African 'post-slavery' society. The author examines recent dynamics of citizenship and emancipation within a Group of slave descendants who have been stigmatized and marginalized for a long period of time. The author underlines the key role played by Gando urban intellectual elites in the dynamics of contestation and social change as well as their role in social transfers between urban and rural contexts. He also shows that claims to hold power in municipalities were channeled through the assertion of the group's ethnicity and that, despite the political success of the Gando, perceptions and practices of stratified citizenship have not disappeared entirely.