Saturday, 12 March 2011
Rosabelle Boswell, Le Malaise Creole: Ethnic Identity In Mauritius
ROSABELLE BOSWELL, Le Malaise Creole: ethnic identity in Mauritius. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books. 2006.
Le malaise Creole (the Creole malaise) refers to the persistence of poverty, social problems and political marginalization amongst Creoles of mixed, African or Malagasy descent, who comprise 29 per cent of the Mauritian population (the remainder is 66 per cent Indo-, 3 per cent Sino-, and 2 per cent Franco-Mauritian). Boswell examines four established (and interdependent) interpretations of the phenomenon through the lens of her ethnographic research amongst Creoles in Mauritius. In the first interpretation, le malaise Creole is seen as a consequence of dispossession and physical and psychological violence under slavery, which had a fragmenting impact upon identity, solidarity and economy (although, as Boswell goes on to argue, this fails to account for the continuing Creole evocation of both primordial and hybrid identities). In the second interpretation, le malaise Creole is a social pathology resulting from the lack of a pre-existing, underlying Creole identity (as Boswell points out, this does not explain the existence of other, more positive Creole responses to oppression). Third, Boswell outlines the claim that the African heritage and hybridity of Creoles (rather than their experiences of colonialism and slavery per se) has resulted in their destructive tendencies (a primordialist and essentialist claim that Boswell is quick to refute). Finally, Boswell outlines the suggestion that le malaise Creole is a concept deployed by Creole political and socio-cultural groups to homogenize and mobilize Creoles (she notes that this view fails to recognize the continuing impact of slavery on Creoles' access to resources in Mauritius).
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Wednesday, 2 March 2011
Friday, 25 February 2011
Damien Elisa - Des Truf D'esclavage
The keyboardist and armonica of Kaya and Cassiya, Damien's music has been evolving for a very long time, which has been a type of escapism for the artist from the capitalistic world. Damien is known for his musical production, as he is involved at all levels of creativity in his music and is followed by the group Kiohki. The artist is one of the island’s most underrated talent that often is misunderstood by the locals due to his unconventional approach to music. He records live sounds from the Mauritian natural landscape, this could be a bird tweeting, the water running down the river and blends it into his music. He also scats words that has no real meaning just to fit the melody, which sometime has caused controversy amongst the local critics. However the artist is not bothered as this is the true essence of his music and he has found followers from both a small group of world/jazz music lovers on the island and abroad including Reunion Island, France and other European countries.
Des Truf D’esclavage taken from the critically acclaimed album N-Mots which is also responsible for putting Mauritius on the map of World Music worldwide. Des Truf d'esclavage is a lovely ballad with innocent but powerful lyrics regarding the creoles slave past that effects is still echoing in the present in the form of racism and other type of injustice.
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Kaya & Racine Tatane - Kiltir
This song is one Kaya’s masterpiece where he delivers powerful lyrics urging the creoles people to look at Africa for inspiration as a cure against the so called “malaise creoles” which is a lack of identity from the black and the mix population. This identity crisis which has created confusion and division amongst the Mauritian people is seen as a cancer that creoles has inherited from slavery which is spreading on the island in the eyes of Kaya and the only remedy is through a greater understanding of the African History. This is a rebellion song and the band does a good job in providing this hypnothic riddim in true Seggae style. Ethiopia here is seen as the sacred land once run by King Solomon and Queen Sheba and their direct descendant Haile Selassie described here as the savior against Babylon. In this song he rejects the Sega dance and songs seen as a product of slavery and urge creoles people to have more belief and self esteem about their heritage as creoles once came from a land of kings and queens.
P.S: Only 70 people signed up for the Kaya petition for comemoration. Your vote can make a difference please sign up today. Also I would like to apologise for not posting this on Kaya 12th anniversary on the 21 Feb hence why i have decided to give out a track.
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UPDATE: SINCE SOMEONE TOOK TIME TO GET THIS SONG REMOVED HERE IS THE VIDEO.
P.S. NOTE THAT WE DIDN'T CREATE THIS VIDEO AND THE CONTENT ON YOU TUBE DOESN'T REFLET OUR OPINION ON THIS SUBJECT.
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