Dfense et illustration d'un universel mauricien

Abstract

This article analyses the representation of Creole culture in Mauritius, mainly in Ananda Devi's novels and in the movie, The Cathedral (2006), adapted from one of her short stories by Harrikrisna Anenden. It brings out the paradox in the use of the term Creole, which refers both to a precise ethnic community and to the language and culture of all Mauritians. The notion of rhythm is used here to understand the representation of two main components of this culture, sga dance and the Creole language. Rhythm organizes what is commonly perceived as chaotic, and the article focuses on the link between Creole culture and the capital city, Port Louis. This city is a privileged site where the creolization process occurs, with its dynamic tensions between cohesion and territorialization, understood as the slippages that mark the invisible borders of various ethnic communities. Devi's work foregrounds the question of becoming Creole in relation to the violent consequences of ethnic encounters and their transgressions. In ve de ses dcombres, a homoerotic relationship serves as metaphor for ethnic transgressions. It is a way of denouncing and countering the prohibitions against interethnic relationships on this plural island.