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The Immeasurability of Racial and Mixed Identity in Mauritius

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The Palgrave International Handbook of Mixed Racial and Ethnic Classification

Abstract

A number of globally recognized scholars have investigated the issue of race and ‘mixed’ identities in the island society of Mauritius. The island is culturally diverse, making the subject of identity fascinating and its definition elusive. This chapter discusses contemporary identity in Mauritius and attempts to engage with the notion of ‘mixed racial’ identities, taking care to not reify race and thereby deepen negative stereotypes. The argument offered is that identity is diversely situated and differently constituted. Identity is not always ‘made’ in the context of conscious intercultural communication. Instead, identity is perceived as experience mediated via a diversity of stimuli. It is proposed that we look ‘beneath the surface’ to the lived experiences of Mauritians and their interaction with the sea, to perceive alternative ways in which identity is constituted and experienced. From this, a new perspective on ‘race’ and ‘mixed identities’ in Mauritius can be reached.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Ministry of Economic Planning and Development Central Statistical Office 1972 Housing and Population Census of Mauritius volume 5. Pg. 2 http://statsmauritius.govmu.org/English/CensusandSurveys/Documents/Archive%20Census/1972%20Census/Table%20Reports/1972-HPC-Volume%20V%20-%20Population%20General%20Tables%20-%20Island%20of%20Mauritius.pdf accessed 13/03/19.

  2. 2.

    POPULATION CENSUS MAURITIUS NIGHT OF 2–3 JULY 2000. Column 17–19. https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sources/census/quest/MUS2000enIn.pdf accessed 13/03/19.

  3. 3.

    United Nations. 2013. ‘Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination considers Report of Mauritius’ https://newsarchive.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=13105&LangID=E accessed 20/03/19.

  4. 4.

    Mauritius Marshall Plan aims to eradicate poverty and social exclusion. http://www.africa.undp.org/content/rba/en/home/presscenter/articles/2017/07/12/mauritius_marshall_plan_aims_to_eradicate_poverty_and_exclusion.html accessed 13/03/19.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Arts, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

    Rosabelle Boswell

  2. Department of Anthropology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Rosabelle Boswell

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  1. Rosabelle Boswell
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Correspondence to Rosabelle Boswell .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Zarine L. Rocha

  2. Centre for Health Services Studies, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK

    Peter J. Aspinall

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Boswell, R. (2020). The Immeasurability of Racial and Mixed Identity in Mauritius. In: Rocha, Z.L., Aspinall, P.J. (eds) The Palgrave International Handbook of Mixed Racial and Ethnic Classification. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22874-3_24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22874-3_24

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-22873-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-22874-3

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