A region in the south of Senegal, the Casamance has been the object since 1982 of independence claims formulated by the Movement of Democratic Forces in the Casamance (MFDC). Advanced by a Joola minority, these political claims have used a language of identity, recreating and crystallising joola cultural capital. The same capital has consequently been used in the peace process that has been underway for several years in the Casamance, making the joola community the best placed community in this traditionalised economy of peace – an economy that hides political stakes and manipulations – and accelerating their identity construction. But the joola monopoly of the peace market and of the representation of the Casamance, whether or not in separatist terms, is contested by the other communities in the Casamance. The latter are also involved in initiating new cultural works, reconstructing themselves and looking to assert themselves as legitimately casamançais.