Identity and market in a situation of institutional pluralism: the case of the agricultural sector in Mayotte

The island of Mayotte, where still dominate Moslem and customary rules privileging the collective dynamics to the individual initiatives, is engaged in huge institutional reforms that must lead it to the status of French department. The anchoring in the French republic maintains a rapid and consequent economic development but also questions former institutions, based on reciprocity and on local solidarity. The article focuses on agriculture and examines both the mechanisms of trade penetration and their opposite movements toward reciprocity that local actors implement to manage this situation of institutional pluralism.