Originally from Terre de Bas in Les Saintes, Pierre Sainte-Luce is multi-dimensional. Let’s discover the unique career of the doctor, the entrepreneur imbued with culture who today chairs the Patrons Committee of the Foundation for the Remembrance of Slavery.
When he graduated from high-school, although Pierre Sainte-Luce left his native Guadeloupe to undertake medical studies at the historical University of Montpellier. In his second year, he met Corinne who was to become his wife. With her, he returned home and practiced as a vascular specialist for a few years before discovering he had an entrepreneurial spirit. He then left his practice to create and manage health establishments. It was quite difficult as he had to start a hunger strike to unravel administrative brakes and red tape. But success came as soon as he won his case.
As a business manager, he felt the need to learn from books when he undertook new projects. He read a lot about management but wanted to go deeper: curious to understand his people, he resumed studying and got a doctorate in sociology. The man moved fast, ran, flew and of course wanted to pilot planes so he could go from one island to another; and here too, being a private pilot was not enough. He spent evenings studying Instrument flight rules (IFR), which enabled him to fly on instruments.
Passionate about history and heritage conservation, he first bought an old pottery in Terre de Bas, a listed site where up to a hundred slaves had worked and lived.
Then, in Martinique, he acquired a magnificent “habitation”. He is very proud to be one of the few Afro-descendants to have reversed history in this way. Pierre Sainte-Luce is the president of the Parisian Patrons of the Foundation for the Remembrance of Slavery. He knows how much building and transmitting memory is necessary.
TRANSMITTING REMEMBRANCE AND PROMOTING THE WHOLE-WORLD ~ At sixty, he wrote a novel, “Colored”, soon to be published in English. It is a fictional story of his family saga from Elsa, an ancestor from Africa. He has just completed his second book, “Transfiguration”, a tribute to his tragically deceased father. Pierre also visits the world, as a true ambassador of Guadeloupe, his island. He is never really a tourist wherever he goes. A true conqueror at heart, he leaves traces of this Guadeloupean culture that he loves above all, and he comes back filled with the other and their difference. Pierre is a fervent disciple of Glissant and his Whole-World movement. Like Glissant, he believes in the meeting of cultures and the creolization of the world.
Three quotes from Glissant resonate deeply with him: “Act in your place, think with the world” is the first. This is his leitmotif, Guadeloupe being his field of action but with the world in sight. A second quote – creolization is “an inextricable mixture of cultures whose consequences cannot be predicted in advance” – thoroughly informs his adventurous spirit. Finally, “the Western man suffering from great pain has ceased to believe he is at the center of what is” truly reflects Pierre Sainte-Luce’s philosophy. He sees his island as a microcosm of the world, an example of the whole-world or a multicultural society that experiences the chaos of the whole-world but above all its great richness. He sees Guadeloupe as an open-air laboratory, a new world in the making.
TRUE TRAVELLER ~Pierre Sainte-Luce likes traveling the world with his wife Corinne and returning with many works of art from the countries visited. In Dakar, they did not miss going to Gorée and bought art from artists’ studios. Passing through Barbados, they made a point of visiting the artist Sheena Rose. Their collection of works of art took shape after their world tour a few years ago and gives even more meaning to their vision. It is the reflection of a philosophy of the Whole-World.
When his schedule allows, Pierre Sainte-Luce returns to his childhood passion and practices lyrical singing in the company of singing master Molière Athalys. As a “good Guadeloupean”, he is passionate about cycling: He participates in the popular jubilation surrounding the Guadeloupe Cycling Tour. He owns a champion racing bike and trains on Sundays.
What drives Pierre Sainte-Luce?
The great adventure of human relationships.
Auteur :Julie Vainqueur / Crédit photo : © Guillaume Aricique
