Former British Colony. Mauritians in the Face of Globalisation

Mauritius is a former French and British colony in the Indian Ocean. Now, this island country has become a multicultural and multiethnic society due to several waves of immigration from Europe, Africa and Asia, all through the past three centuries. Each wave of immigration brought in new peoples along with their cultures, religions and languages. However, all the migrants did not settle in Mauritius on their own accord. Some were slaves. Some came as free workers and others as colonizers. The differences in the arrival of modern Mauritians’ ancestors are still felt like balls and chains for some communities in Mauritius today. However, they are now faced with the challenge of building their Mauritian identity and be “as one people as one nation”3 with all their differences in the face of globalisation. The different communities live side by side in relative respect and harmony, but they hardly get mixed up through inter-community marriages. Hence, they could be compared to the colours of the rainbow. Nevertheless, the diversity in local cultures, religions and languages of Mauritius is today at stake in the face of globalisation. In my work, I will first show that globalisation is nothing new to Mauritius. Then, I will focus on the possibility of Mauritian society to build up its national identity thanks to globalisation; but at the same time Mauritius might, to some extent, lose its economic independence. Finally, I will work on the chance that Mauritius may lose its local richness and diversity on the altar of globalisation.