Sabine Andrivon-Milton


Sabine Andrivon-Milton, is a French historian specialising in the military history of Martinique, a teacher, author and board game designer.

Biography

Education

She went to Sainte-Thérèse B primary school, collège de Sainte-Thérèse, completing her baccalaureate at the lycée de Bellevue.
She studied at the University of the French Antilles in Schœlcher in Martinique and at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University. She defended her doctoral thesis, entitled La Martinique et la Grande Guerre in December 2003 and has specialised in military history.

Historical and commemorative work

President of the Association Histoire Militaire de la Martinique, she is the driving force behind the inclusion of forgotten soldiers' names on war memorials, and the importance of popularising knowledge of Martinique's war history: she discovered nearly 150 names of Martinique soldiers who died during the First World War and who had been awarded the distinction "Mort pour la France" were not inscribed on war memorials. Several municipalities in Martinique have agreed to add names: Vauclin, Saint-Joseph, Basse-Pointe, Ajoupa-Bouillon, Sainte-Marie, Trinité, Fort-de-France, Marigot, Fonds-Saint-Denis, Gros-Morne.
She also campaigned for war memorials to be erected in communes that didn't have one, including Sainte-Luce, Saint-Pierre and Rivière-Pilote. Through the Association Histoire Militaire de la Martinique, she organised the "Monuments aux morts en lumières" event, marking the commemoration of the Armistice of 11 November 1918 by illuminating war memorials during the week of the anniversary.
The Ministry of Overseas France in Paris was the venue for a conference she held on the former French colonies and the Great War, bringing together specialists from Guadeloupe, Reunion, New Caledonia and French Guiana. On 8 November 2011, this conference moved to Martinique, taking place at Fort Desaix.

First World War centenary

As part of the commemoration of the First World War centenary, she spoke about martiniquais women's part in the French war effort from research into correspondence and local reporting in Les femmes martiniquaises dans la guerre at the symposium La Caraïbe et la Première Guerre mondiale, organised by the Archives départementales de la Guadeloupe and the Société d'histoire de la Guadeloupe. On 8 July, she took part in a round table discussion at the Senate, presenting a paper entitled Les soldats antillo-guyanais dans la Grande Guerre. In it she described initial conscription and volunteers, their privations, the battles they fought in and the number lost, naming two men in particular, the aviators Jean-Marie Guibert and Pierre Réjon.
She later organised La Martinique et sa filleule Étain ; an event which received the Label Centenaire and appeared in the official national programme. A delegation of 94 Martiniquais people visited Étain, Meuse, a town destroyed during the Great War and reconstructed using funds contributed to by Martinique. 54 young people from the colleges of Terreville and Vauclin and the Robert LPA, accompanied by their teachers, veterans and friends, attended the commemoration of the beginning of the battle of Verdun on 21 February in the Bois des Caures, the signing of the twinning agreement between Étain and Vauclin, and ceremonies to honour Martinique's soldiers.

Educator and public historian

Andrivon-Milton is committed to teaching of history from a young age - in October 2017, she devised a 9-card family game, Je découvre la Martinique then in 2018, the board game La Martinique au bout des doigts. Other educational games have followed, including "la Martinique en jeux de société", "la Martinique en jeux de société", "la Martinique en multijeux" and Martinik Mémory.
A well-known historian in Martinique, she gives numerous talks in schools, associations and other organisations to explain the role of Martinique and the Martiniquais in the Great War. She hosts a programme called Une île une histoire on Martinique première radio.
On 19 March 2021, Sainte-Thérèse B Elementary School in Fort-de-France became the Sabine ANDRIVON-MILTON Elementary School.

Television

She has produced a number of history programmes broadcast on Martinique Première:
  • November 2013 : Propos de guerre
  • November 2014 : Lettres de poilus martiniquais
  • November 2015 : Des soldats martiniquais de la Grande Guerre
  • She has featured in several documentaries:Jean Jules Joseph, un soldat créole, David Hunger et Daniel Picouly, 2014On a retrouvé le soldat Borical, Barcha Bauer, La Lanterne, 2013Gwadloup en Argonne, Fred Foret, 2011.Antilles, la guerre oubliée by Frédéric Monteil, 2019Martinique, à jamais dans nos cœurs, by Jil Servan, Palaviré production, France O, December 2021
A programme was dedicated to her on "Ziétaj" a cultural review programme on Martinique Première, November 2021

Offices and memberships

  • President of the association "Histoire Militaire de la Martinique".
  • Member of the commission mémoire et solidarité du conseil départemental des anciens combattants.
  • Member of the Comité départemental du Centenaire 14–18.
  • President of the association Martinique-Étain Member of the commission mémorielle de la ville de Schoelcher
  • Member of commission mémoires et transmissions de la ville de Fort-de-France
  • Commander in the Réserve citoyenne.

Publications

La Martinique, base navale dans le rêve mexicain de Napoléon III. SAM éditions La Martinique et la Grande Guerre, Éditions L'Harmattan Le livre d'or des soldats martiniquais morts pendant la Grande Guerre. SAM éditions Lettres de Poilus martiniquais. SAM éditions La Martinique pendant la Grande Guerre, recueil de poèmes et de chants. SAM éditions Anatole dans la tourmente du Morne Siphon, L'Harmattan, La Martinique en 200 questions-réponses, Orphie Belle la Martinique vue du ciel, Orphie Le Fort Desaix et le 33e RIMa, une histoire de marsouins aux Antilles, contributionFort-de-France en 200 questions-réponses. Orphie Quizz, la Grande Guerre, les Antilles et la Guyane. SAM éditions La Martinique et la Première Guerre mondiale en 100 questions-réponses. Orphie. Label Centenaire.Les histoires de Sabine, volume 1 La Martinique en multijeux. SAM éditions
  • "Les histoires de Sabine", volume 2 SAM éditions
  • "La Martinique en multijeux", volume 2 SAM éditions

Honours