As early as in Carribean Discourse, Glissant draws a parallel between the history of the Slave Trade and the Jewish diaspora. He contrasts the figure of the naked migrant, straight out of the hold of the slave ship, with that of the deportee who keeps his people united despite its dispersion. The comparison is offensive and aims more generally at contesting the idea of the primitive essence of a nation. But Jewish history might just be a mask enabling Glissant to aim at the ideology of Return characteristic of Afro-centrist movements. His reflection has evolved towards thinking the complicity of memories and the possibility to share them, in Mémoires des esclavages, and the comparison has faded in favour of the articulation of transversal histories.