Linguistic diversity and the quest for national identity: The case of Mauritius

Abstract

The subject of the article is the tension between nationalism and ethnicity as rival ideologies in a changing society, viewed through the cultural idiom of language. Drawing on fieldwork in Mauritius, the author sets out to elucidate consequences of language use and language policies for ethnic relations and nationalist ideology. The first part is a description and analysis of the language situation in Mauritius, a multi‐ethnic society where different ethnic groups relate to various languages in different ways. Spoken language is not a marker of ethnicity since virtually everybody speaks Kreol – a French‐lexicon Creole that is rarely written. Instead, ethnic strategies are mobilized with regard to the choice of ancestral languages in the definition of self, in the controversy over national languages, and in the educational system. The second part discusses the potential of Kreol as a national language and as a vehicle of ethnic co‐operation and national ideology. The complex and ambivalent attitudes to Kreol prevalent in different segments of the Mauritian population are discussed in detail, as well as the part played by Kreol in the radical nationalist movement of the 1970s, and the interrelationship between language and ethnicity. Finally, a number of recommendations are suggested for further studies of language in ethnicity and nationalism.

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