Boyu,

My name is Mâge Djodie BOI. I’m from Kanaky New Caledonia. As a child of the North, I was assigned the identity of mixed heritage because of my skin color from a young age. But I grew up immersed in the Kanak culture of my parents, so I didn’t see myself through that lens. Beyond the mix in my genes and my family history — Kanak, Japan, France, and Tonga — I am Kanak, because that’s the environment I was raised in. It’s the languages that cradled me (Fwai, Cemuhi), that shaped me. My father is from Hienghène (Wérap), and my mother from Touho. My holidays were spent either playing at the foot of the badamier tree at my grandmother’s in Wérap (Hienghène), or gathering kanak apples in Touho. Arriving in Nouméa was difficult. I had to adopt new codes, learn new expressions to fit in, find my bearings in the city, figure out how to take the bus, and even learn to dress differently