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Abstract
This article discusses the understanding of hybridity in Mauritius and the marginalisation of those considered hybrid. The author argues that Mauritius, a plural society, is influenced by essentialist interpretations of ethnicity and that dominant groups living there perceive hybridity as a threat to group integrity and identity. Among the significant minority of Creoles (the descendants of African and Malagasy slaves and those of mixed descent), there presently are concerted efforts to achieve homogeneity by affirming one's African-ness. The author argues that this affirmation is problematic due to the historically negative valuation of Africa and African-ness and because it supports the dominant negative interpretation of hybridity. However, the valuation of African-ness is also necessary in the Creoles’ attempts to deal with the history and memory of slavery. The author suggests that one of the steps that Creoles can take to transcend Le Malaise Créole is to cultivate a positive view of hybridity and hybridisation.
Notes
1. For example, in day-to-day conversations it is not uncommon to hear Mauritians speak of ethnically different others using (often derogatory) terms that refer to the origins of the people being talked about.
2. In the 1970s, the political group known as Organisation Fraternel initiated a campaign for the rights of the descendants of slaves on the island. Part of this group's efforts culminated in the establishment of a monument dedicated to slaves that was brought to the island. This monument is situated at Pointe Canon in Mahebourg on the west coast of the island.
3. “Intense nuit de violence” (Citation Le Mauricien 1999: 1); “Roche Bois, six mois apres les émeutes: “Ici rien na changé!” (Weekend Citation1999: 18); “Riots ‘Now part of our culture’ says police chief” (CitationSelvon 1999: 1); “CitationLa guerre raciale va-t-elle commencé?” (http://www.jir.fr/FaitsDivers/992502guerre.htm); “CitationReléguée, oubliée, laissés –pour-compte, la minorité créole noire s'usurge” (http://www.jir.fr/FaitsDivers/992402maurice.htm); “CitationLa révolte des Créoles”; and “CitationUn pays de constitution fragile” http://www.jir.fr/FaitsDivers/992502maurice.htm).
4. “But, I haven't gone back there for more than two years now, so I can't really say if it is better there or not.”
5. 8167 men and 8058 women.
6. Commonly hunted by young men in rural parts of Madagascar as a means to constitute masculinity and for subsistence purposes.
7. Jacques Desiré Laval, a Spiritan missionary, devoted twenty-three years of his life to setting up a mission for ex-slaves of Mauritius. He died in 1864 and, today, Mauritians of all faiths visit his tomb and believe that he continues to perform miracles from the grave.
8. The child is made to stand while the father holds the linseed and motions seven circles to the right (using his right hand) around his head. The seeds are then thrown into a pot that is being heated on the stove and as it burns and distorts, it is said to transform into the shape of an eye or heart, thus indicating the source of the child's misfortune, which will either be the “evil eye” or “envious heart.”
9. Les Passes consist of a range of rituals similar in process to the ones designed to identify the evil heart and envious eye. However, alternative herbs may be burned to remove the spirits causing illness.
10. See also “Mouvement d'aide aux victims de la sorcellerie. Au diable les sorciers!” (Weekend Citation2001.)
11. For example, flu is treated with rousailles leaves, coughs with citronella, hypertension with cathepigne and moringa leaves, and indigestion and nausea with yapana leaves and mint.
12. Catechism classes.
13. “Of Mauritian origin, he is not a stranger to our practices nor our lives, as dark as they may seem.” (Citation La Vie Catholique 1999).
14. See CitationRamdoyal (1985).
15. According to CitationGramsci (1971: 52), the objective formation of a group occurs during the “developments and transformations occurring in the sphere of economic production.” The objective formation of the group also depends on their “origins in pre-existing social groups,” whose practices, beliefs, and values they conserve for a while.
16. My field sites were Flacq, Karina, Roche Bois, Chamarel, and Le Morne.
17. The nineteenth-century discourse of scientific racism sought to entrench the superiority of the white race by determining alterity, exclusivity, and purity.
La guerre raciale va-t-elle commence? Available at http://www.jir.fr/FaitsDivers/992502guerre.htm
La révolte des Créoles. Available at http://www.jir.fr/FaitsDivers/992502maurice.htm
La Vie Catholique. 22 August 1999
Le Mauricien. 24 February 1999. Intense nuit de violence. P. 1.
Reléguée, oubliée, laissés— pour-compte, la minorité créole noire s'usurge. Available at http://www.jir.fr/FaitsDivers/992402maurice.htm
Selvon, Sydney 1999. Riots ‘now part of our culture’ says police chief. News On Sunday 14 November. P. 1.
Un pays de constitution fragile. Available at http://www.jir.fr/FaitsDivers/992502maurice.htm
Von Mally, Nicholas 27 June 1999a Maurice Tigre De L'océan Indien, Avec Rodrigues, Chat De Goutières À Ses Côtés. Weekend. P. 2.
Von Mally, Nicholas 8 August 1999b. La Bombe Rodriguaise. Weekend. P. 4.
Von Mally, Nicholas 8 August 1999c. Squatting des Rodriguais à Maurice . . . Il faut créer les conditions pour empêcher l'immigration des Rodriguais vers Maurice. Weekend. P. 14.
Weekend. 22 August 1999. Roche Bois, Six Mois Apres Les Émeutes: “Ici Rien N'a Changé!” P. 18.
Weekend. 25 November 2001. Mouvement d'aide aux victims de la sorcellerie. Au diable les sorciers!
