Between Exploitation and Resilience: Labour as a Lens on Creole Identity in Grand Café Martinique and L’Hôtel du Bon Plaisir by Raphaël Confiant

This article examines the representation of labour in Raphaël Confiant’s novels Grand Café Martinique (2020) and L’Hôtel du Bon Plaisir (2009) to explore its role in shaping postcolonial Creole identity. Drawing on creolization theory, postcolonial thought, and Domenico Losurdo’s Marxist‐decolonial critiques, it employs a comparative textual analysis. The study contrasts colonial agricultural entrepreneurship with contemporary informal social labour, unveiling structures of exploitation, acts of resistance, and identity transformation. Conclusions highlight that, for Confiant, labour serves as a lens to critique colonial legacies while affirming Creole resilience.