Harmon, J. (2011). AfroKreols’Quest for Identity impacts our future. Devenir des Creoles, N0.7.

Recherches Haitino-Antillaises, pp.131-146.

AfroKreols’ Quest for identity impacts on the future of Mauritian Creole

Jimmy Harmon

Abstract:

The purpose of this article is to reflect on the historical trajectory and future of Creole language in
Mauritius. It will demonstrate the impact of ethnicity and identity on the future of Mauritian Creole. This
article will also describe the sociolinguistic context and trace the socio-historical evolution of Mauritian
Creole since the country’s independence in 1968. Finally, it will analyse the “AfroKreol consciousness
movement” while looking at the foreseeable impact of the movement on Mauritian Creole.
Keywords: Mauritian Creole, Ethnicity and Identity, AfroKreol, Afrokreol consciousness, foreseeable
impact.

Resume:

Le but de ce texte est de dégager une réflexion sur l’avenir de la langue créole à l’ile Maurice. Il démontre
l’impact de l’ethnicité et de l’identité sur l’avenir du créole mauricien. Il décrit la situation sociolinguistique
et retrace l’évolution sociohistorique du créole mauricien depuis l’indépendance du pays en 1968. Puis, il
analyse ‘le mouvement de la conscience Afrokreol’tout en regardant l’impact prévisible de ses principaux
traits sur le créole mauricien.
Mots-clés : Creole mauricien-ethnicité & identite-AfroKreol –Conscience Afro-kreol-Impact prévisible

THE REPUBLIC OF MAURITIUS

 The sociolinguistic context

The Republic of Mauritius lies in the southwest of the Indian Ocean. It comprises the main island of
Mauritius and its dependencies are Rodrigues, Agalega and St Brandon as well as a number of outlaying
smaller islands. Mauritius, belonging to a group of islands called the Mascarenes, is of volcanic origin and
has a surface area of 1865km2. Its exclusive economic zone is 1.7 million km2 extending almost to s
distance of 200 nautical miles from its baseline. Mauritius was an uninhabited island and never had an
indigenous population. It had known three major periods before its independence in 1968: Dutch settlement
(1638-1710), French Colonisation (1710-1810) and British Colonisation (1810-1968). The country became a
Republic in 1992 and has remained a member of the Commonwealth. It has a written constitution. Its
political system is mainly a Westminster system: universal suffrage and parliamentary.

 People & Languages

1
Out of a population of 1, 274, 189, (Census 2000, Central Statistical Office) the Republic of Mauritius
comprises 51% of people of Indian origins. The biggest minority is the Creoles (27%). Then come the
Muslims (17%), Chinese (3%) and the Whites (2%).

The variety of ethnic origins coupled with the Franco-British historical background gives rise to a complex
language situation. The Census in Table 1 gives an estimate of the home languages. It is clear that Creole
language is the most spoken home language. But it has no official status. The term ‘Creole’ has also a dual
meaning in its use. Carpooran (2003) describes the ambiguity:

Pour tout mauricien, le terme est au moins bi-référentiel. Outre sa dimension glossonymique évidente ( il
désigne une langue particulière au sein d’un espace plurilingue relativement riche), il fonctionne aussi
comme ethnonyme, en tant que désignative de l’une des composantes d’une société pluriethnique à
structuration fort complexe [...]

English is used only in official written communication especially in governmental departments. The written
press (with some twenty newspaper titles) are dominantly French. The electronic media broadcasts films and
programmes in French, English, Creole, Hindustani and Chinese. Most of the programmes on the private
radio stations are in French and Creole coupled with entertainment programmes in other languages.

Table 2: Home languages

1990 2000

Total population 1,056,660 1,178,848

Creole 652, 193 61.7% 826, 152 70.1%

Creole / another 93,899 8.9% 123, 118 10.4%

language

Bhojpuri 201,618 19.1% 142, 387 12.1%

Bhojpuri/another 21, 953 2.1% 7, 645 0.6%

language

French 34, 455 3.3 % 39, 953 3.4%

English 2, 240 0.2% 3, 512 0.3 %

Other 49, 208 4.6 % 32, 190 2.7%

Source: Central Statistical Office, Annual Digest of Statistics, 2001

2
  The education system

Mauritius has a 6+5+2 education structure, i.e. six years of compulsory primary schooling form Standard I
to Standard VI leading to the Certificate of Primary Education (CPE). This is followed by five years of
secondary education from Form I to Form V leading to the Cambridge School Certificate and two years
more of secondary ending with the Higher School Certificate (HSC). Since 2005, education is compulsory
up to age 16, with the introduction of 11-year schooling. In terms of linguistic situation (cf. Table 2),
English is the official medium of instruction for teaching of non-language subjects ( ex. Maths, history,
geography and sciences) . But French or Creole are used mostly by teachers in the teaching and learning
processes at all levels as support languages for class explanation.

In 2005, Catholic education implemented the Prevokbek programme1, introducing the study of Creole as a
full-fledged subject and a medium of instruction for maths, information technology and science. Prevokbek
is a remedial three year course in the prevocational stream for pupils who fail the Certificate of Primary
Education.

Table 2. Linguistic situation in schools

LEVEL LANGUAGE STATUS

SUBJECT MEDIUM SUPPORT

PRE- English / French English French / Creole

PRIMARY

PRIMARY English / French / Asian ( Oriental ) 2 & Arabic English French/ Creole

SECONDARY English / French / Asian ( Oriental ) & Arabic English French / Creole

The introduction of Creole in Catholic education is a breakthrough and has a deep impact on national
education. The Ministry of Education has since then been hesitant upon this innovative project. A better

1
Prevokbek. : this a Mauritian Creole acronym which has been coined for the prevocational stream ( prevok) of the colleges
falling under the aegis of the Bureau of Catholic Education ( BEC) called Bek in Mauritian Creole. The programme has been
designed by Dev Virahsawmy and experienced practising teachers.

2
Asian or Oriental languages (viz. Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, Urdu, Telegu and Mandarin; Arabic is classified separately) are specially
taught at primary level and are optional subjects. They have an important ethno linguistic identity function in the primary
system. Since 2005, Asian and Arabic languages are taken into account for the final grades in the examination at the end of
primary schooling. The fact that AfroKreol students do not have any affinities with these languages, the absence of Mauritian
Creole as an additional optional subject is felt as a linguistic and cultural discrimination.

3
understanding of this problematic is to look at Creole language spanning over the past forty years in
contemporary history of Mauritius.

THE SOCIO HISTORICAL EVOLUTION

Drawing upon the findings of researchers (Carpooran, 2005; Tirvassen, 2005; Police-Daniella, 2005), we
can trace five major stages in the evolution of Mauritian Creole since independence in 1968.

 Nationalist feelings and Morisyen

The first stage is the nationalist period. Until the 1960’s, anyone could write words which sounded Creole,
irrespective of any strict grammatical rule. Dev Virahsawmy introduced in Mauritius a new codification for
the writing of Creole; being at that time an active militant of the new leftist political party -the MMM (
Mouvement Militant Mauricien) which emerged after independence. Dev Virahsawmy’s proposals received
political backing ( Dinan, 1986) which gave a special momentum to the whole issue. He provided a
rationale for the Mauritian nationalism whereby Mauritian Creole is claimed as the language par excellence
of national unity and identity; according to him, Creole language is distinctively Mauritian and therefore
should be called Morisyen ( Mauritian) rather than be called ‘Creole’ to avoid the confusion between the
language and the ethnic marker ( Hookoomsing, 2004).

 Class Struggle and Creole Propaganda

The second stage was in the 1970’s, marked by a period of trade unionism revival with rising strikes, go-
slows and social unrest. Mauritian Creole became associated with class struggle. Tracts, dazibao, banners
and other means of communication for mass propaganda were in Mauritian Creole. During the same period,
the Ledikasyon Pu Travayer movement emerged as the sole organisation involved in popular education and
adult literacy. The LPT developed the ‘’n /nn’’ orthography, using it as well for literary contests and
promoting it as a literary medium.

 Cultural Militants

The third stage comes with the late 1970’s to the end of the 1980’s whereby Mauritian Creole knew a golden
era. Writers and cultural artists unlocked their creativity by making intense use of Creole language. This
period was the heyday of the Grup Kiltirel (militant singers and artists) which promoted a new form of
nation- building called mauricianisme.

 The malaise creole

The fourth stage is the ‘malaise creole’ period which happens in the late 1990’s. The term’malaise creole’
was first used by Father Roger Cervaux, a Creole catholic priest, in 1993 to describe the AfroCreoles
4
position in the Catholic Church which has a White dominant hierarchy. The term has been then taken over
by opinion leaders, historians and researchers to describe the political, economic and social exclusion of the
poorest section of the Creole ethnic group. Following the death of a famous Rastafarian singer known as
Kaya in police cell in February 1999, riots broke out and the AfroKreol movement gained momentum.

 Milestones for the future

The fifth stage is closer to our period. There are three milestones in this period. They are: (i) the official
codification of Mauritian Creole in 2004 (ii) the introduction of Mauritian Creole in formal education in
Catholic colleges and (iii) the advent of the first monolingual dictionary3 with 15,000 entries of Mauritian
Creole in 2009.

In March 2004, the Ministry of Education & Scientific Research entrusted to the University of Mauritius,
and the Maurititius Institute of Education under the responsibility of Professor Vinesh Hookoomsingh, Pro-
Vice Chancellor of the University, the task of ‘proposing a harmonized way of writing Mauritian Kreol with
a view to making use of that language in the education of young Mauritians’ ( Grafi Larmoni Report, 2004).
In September 2004, the team of collaborators 4came out with a harmonized orthography that took into
account the various writing systems proposed for Mauritian Creole and currently in use. This harmonization
gave birth to the term ‘Grafi-Larmoni’.

Within the same year, Mauritian Creole found its way in formal education through the Prevokbek
programme mentioned earlier. Paradoxically, it did not enter in public schools but in Catholic colleges
which had known in their history a long and strong tradition of cultural bias against Creole language. In a
letter dated 15 December 20045 to the then Minister of Education, Steven Obeegadoo, the Bureau of
Catholic Education informed the Ministry of its decision to introduce ‘Literacy in Mauritian Creole
Program’ as from 2005. Local press review covering the period of 2004 to 2007 shows wide press coverage
of the Prevokbek programme and refocused the attention on the pedagogical dimension. It is even among the
list of recommendation of the National Human Rights Report (2007) :

The use of creole would be of great help to those children at the very start of their schooling so that
teachers may understand their difficulties in acquiring knowledge in languages which are foreign to
them [...]Whether the introduction of Creole should be made compulsory in all schools is a debatable

3
Carpooran Arnaud (2009) Diksioner Morisien Premie Diksioner Kreol monoleng dan Lemond & Ekivalan an franse ek angle. Ed.
KTKL

4
The collaborators were Dr Arnaud Carpooran, Dr Daniella Police-Michel from the University of Mauritius; Dr Rada Tirvassen
and Mrs Nita Righoonundun (both are from Mauritius Institute of Pedagogy)

5
Archives of Bureau of Catholic Education, Republic of Mauritius

5
 issue which raises a lot of arguments and which delays the implementation of any solution to their
problem of those who fail in the system. For BEC, Grafi-larmoni is the recognized written form of the
Mauritian Kreol language and ‘technical knowhow for its implementation is available. [ para, 35]

In fact, Mauritian Creole has been a long standing issue in education. Several reports (Ward 1941: 11; J.E.
Meade, 1967: 208; ADEA, 2005) have highlighted that the linguistic policy and policies or if not the laissez-
faire linguistic policy is a major obstacle to an efficient educational system. Yearly Statistical figures
(Central Statistical Office, 2007) indicate that despite an enrolment ratio of almost 100% at primary level,
up to 66% do not reach Ordinary level and 83% never reach Advanced level. This situation lends support to
the view that the Mauritian educational system produces a high level of human wastage. In a bid to improve
the system, Catholic education has expressed publicly its intention to introduce Mauritian Creole at primary
level on a pilot project basis6. In a News Bulletin to the teachers explaining the rationale of the Pilot Project,
the Director of Catholic Education wrote the following:

En tant que responsables de l’éducation, nous avons le devoir et la responsabilité de prendre des
décisions communes pour la réussite de tous les enfants- et cela passe par le respect et l’utilisation de
la langue maternelle de l’enfant à l’école pour faciliter son apprentissage […]Le défi à relever , c’est
de pouvoir construire une base solide grâce à la langue de communication du tout petit, puis effectuer
la transition : de l’apprentissage à travers la langue maternelle ( L1) à l’apprentissage à travers le
français et l’anglais, Le principe est simple et logique mais son application est difficile. (Gilberte
Chung Kim Chung, 0ct.2007)7

However, with the emergence in 2007 of the Federation of Creole Mauricien and its charismatic leader
Father Jocelyn Gregoire,8 there has been a resurgence of ‘ethnic revivalism’ ( Bunwaree, 2002) through the
Creole Consciousness movement. According to Carpooran (2005), ‘la langue créole est devenue, pour
beaucoup d’entre eux, l’un des symboles d’identification ethnique des Créoles’

6
This project is called ‘Multilingualism and School Performance : Kreol Morisien Pilot Project 2010’. A wide scale sociolinguistic
survey has been conducted by Dr Frederic Tupin of University of Nantes and the results will be known by July 2009. The project
will be elaborated on the basis of the report of this study.

7
InfoNews ‘Multilinguisme et reussite scolaire Kreol Morisien 2010’ Issue N0.1 oct. 07, Bureau of Catholic Education, Mauritius

8
Father Jocelyn Gregoire is a creole catholic priest. He is a Lecturer in Psychotherapy at the University of Duquesne, USA. He
started his mission through mass evangelization in Creole, and has since then campaigned on some key social issues in relation
to the social exclusion of the Creoles. He is not the first religious to work on social emancipation. In fact, his actions can be
compared to the missionary work of the Arya Samaja leaders in the 1930’s for social and political emancipation in Mauritius
amongst the Indian community.

6
The publication of the Diksioner Morisien (Mauritian Dictionary) in 2009 is a landmark in the field of
Creole studies in general and Creole language development in particular. In the Foreword, which is in three
versions ( Kreol, Francais and English), Prof. Vinesh Hookoomsing states :

Carpooran’s monolingual Diksioner Morisien is a great milestone on the path of the

development of Creole metalanguage. It opens a new era for the establishment of Maurtian
Creole as the standard Mauritian language, with the exciting perspective of making it ready for
use as a medium for all spheres of human discourse and activity, including science, philosophy,
and especially, education. ( p.8)

The fifth stage is a period where there are considerable advances in Mauritian Creole. It is becoming ‘the
standard Mauritian language’ ( Hookoomsingh, 2009) while at the same time, it is being anchored in the
AfroKreol movement as the language of identity of the Creoles . This overlapping with the ethno linguistic
dimension provides the basis for the future of Creole language.

FORSEEABLE IMPACT OF THE AFROKREOL CONSCIOUSNESS

The term AfroKreol refers generally to the people of the African and Malagasy descents in the Creole ethnic
group. But AfroKreol is not strictly limited to the Afro phenotype. It refers more specifically to Creoles who
are black skinned but who are from the working class and live in suburbs or along the coast. This group is
unilingual creolophone. This distinction is made in relation to the eurocreoles who may be black or light
skinned but represent the middle class and are generally francophones.

Bunwaree (2004) describes the situation of the vast majority of the Creoles:

A lot of what goes under the rubric of ‘identity politics’ is actually about popular struggles for a
more equitable distribution of goods and services for a more just society. The emergence of a
Creole consciousness in recent years and their efforts to rekindle links with Africa as their
homeland highlights both the awakening and forging of an identity. Many of the deprived and
excluded form part of the Creole community wish to see a better distribution of the national
cake.

But the AfroKreol consciousness goes beyond the Afro phenotype. It is the ideological positioning of the
emerging Creole elite (francophone or creolophone ) which is developing a new relation with the Creole
language and culture whilst the former generation of the Creole elite was wholly francophone. Schnepel
(2004) provides further evidence on this aspect:

[...] if the lower-status language has been systematically denigrated by the ruling elites and if the
high-status language of these elites has, in turn become the symbol of oppression, aspiring elites
7
 may challenge the existing structures and bases that support the dominant group by selecting the
non-elite, low status language as a counteracting symbol of liberation and justice. The popular
language then has the potential to serve as a powerful agent of change. [ p.30]

In fact the AfroKreol consciousness movement works towards the political, economic, social and spiritual
empowerment of the most oppressed members of the Creole community. At national level, that category
represents 25 % of the population of the Republic.

 Constitutional recognition

The First Schedule (section 31(2)) of the Constitution (1965) of the Republic of Mauritius refers to four
ethnic groups:

For the purposes of this Schedule, the population of Mauritius shall be regarded as including a
Hindu community, a Muslim community, and a Sino-Mauritian community; and every person who
does not appear, from his way of life, to belong to one or other of those 3 communities shall be
regarded as belonging to the General Population, which shall be regarded as the fourth
community. [para. 4]

This Constitutional classification of the different communities is rooted in the political quagmire of the pre-
independence period marked by ethnic politics. The fourth community, ‘General Population’, includes
Whites, Coloured and people of Malagasy and African descents. However, no mention is made of the Creole
community in the Constitution whilst it represents 29 per cent of the Mauritian population. The AfroKreol
movement is pressing for a change in Constitutional appellation. It claims that the term’ General Population’
be replaced by ‘Creole’. There is also another school of thought which argues that it should be changed for
‘Christians’.

 Historical self

From the mid 2000 onwards, a distinctive feature which dominates the Creole community is a series of
successive publications on the Creole issue by a new breed of the Creole intellectuals having working class
9
origins. The authors are also Creole intellectuals of the Catholic Church, either in pastoral positions or
professionals of Catholic education. Three recent publications10 have dealt with the revisiting of the history

9
Romaine A., ( 2003) Religion populaire et pastorale creole a l’Ile Maurice , Ed. Kathala ; Veder JC ( 2004) Dire Dieu jusqu'à le
celebrer Ed. Marye-Pike ; Palmyre D., ( 2007) Culture creole et foi chretienne, Ed. Marye-PIke

10
Romaine A (2006) Les noms de la honte Ed. Marye-Pike ; Romaine A ( 2007) Les souliers de l’Abolition , Ed. Marye –Pike ;
Harmon J ( 2008) ., L’Esperance créole, Progrès et Dignite Ed. Marye-Pike
8
of the Creoles in a resiliency perspective. These publications have had a resounding effect at grass root level
being given that their authors are in Church structures. For Police-Michel (2005) :

[..] cette récente identité créole souligne l’émergence d’un nouvel anthropos, une nouvelle
humanité qui prend conscience qu’elle puise ses racines incontestablement dans toutes celles
avec lesquelles elle coexiste. Il reste la question de savoir dans quelle mesure cette nouveauté
sera-t-elle reconnue et acceptée, dans quelle mesure cette nouveauté pourra-t-elle contribuer à
une construction cohérente de la personne et de la population mauricienne dans le contexte du
discours global.

Alain Romaine (2008) gives an idea of what is in stock for the future:

L’identité créole et son évolution culturelle est dans une dynamique ascendante. Son mouvement
est irréversible. Ce sont maintenant les personnalités issues du milieu populaire créole qui
constituent le fer de lance du fait créole […] Quarante ans après son indépendance, l’Ile
Maurice, grâce à l’affirmation identitaire créole, se trouve confrontée à la redéfinition de son
destin interculturel incarné déjà dans la personnalité métissée et ouverte du Créole…

 Claiming the language of identity

AfroKreol movement claims Mauritian Creole as the language of heritage (ancestral language), mother-
tongue and national language of all Mauritians. A major comment on the Diksioner Morisien (Carpooran,
2009) by Patrick Fabien, a Catholic Creole priest and Rector of the Seminary is quite eloquent :

Le titre de l’ouvrage: Diksioner morisien avec pour sous-titre, premie diksioner kreol (…),
étonne le Mauricien. Pourquoi séparer morisien de kreol et ne pas donner comme gros titre
Diksioner kreol morisien comme l’avait déjà fait B-H11? Certes, donner le titre morisien
procède de l’intention de donner une portée nationale à une langue. C’est fort louable, mais
couper kreol du morisien revient à renier le fait que cette langue est enracinée, dès son origine,
dans le nom du peuple qui l’a portée. [..] la langue s’appelle le kreol et se réalise à Maurice, à la
Réunion, en Haïti comme créole mauricien, réunionnais, et haïtien

The same view is supported by the artist and creole intellectual Zanzak Arjoon12 ( 2004) :

11
Baker Philip & Hookoomsing Vinesh ( 1987) Diksioner Kreol Morisye / Dictionary of Mauritian / Dictionnaire du créole
mauricien, Paris, L’Harmattan.

12
Zanzak Arjoon is a local artist and public figure as an Afrokreol intellectual. His CD tube ‘Metis maron’ ( 2004) deals with the
thematic of maroonage and metissage.

9
 L’admission du kreol comme langue codifiée demeure certes un travail de longue haleine mais la noyer
dans le supraconcept du morisyen, nous fait brûler les étapes. Et pourquoi de tout cela est évident. Tout
d’abord il ya le fait indéniable de ‘’l’ethnicité’’ auquel nous ne pouvons nous soustraire. Faire du kreol-
comme langue-une économie linguistique à des fins idéologiques, académiques et prestigieuses, c’est nier
qu’i l a pour origine une communauté.

 The strategic change in linguistic allegiance

In Mauritius, languages reflect the conflicting allegiance of the different groups . Fluency in speaking and
writing French was for long identified with the economic supremacy of Franco-Mauritians (the Whites) and
their open friendship with France. The Indo-Mauritians are supposed to have more affinities with English
than French. But we find that the new Hindu bourgeoisie in the 1980’s became the neofrancophones (
Baggioni & Robillard, 1990 ) not so much for social prestige but to prove that the Indian community can
speak French much better than the Franco-Mauritians or the eurocreoles. On a symbolical level, it changed
the rapport des forces. The Indian community is today culturally dominant in English and French while
anchoring their identities in the Oriental languages. AfroKreol intellectuals may opt for English language to
in the context of globalisation. They would keep French as the language and culture of filiations.

For Dev Virahsawmy (2008):

We must aim at L1 literacy and Mauritian Creole (MC) / English bilingualism. [...} At least let
us start to offer these facilities to the AfroKreols for whom MC is an ancestral language, a
mother tongue and a national language. Father Gregoire was applauded when he proposed this .
on Thursday 01.05.08. Let us all support him for in his wisdom are the fruits of peace and
development for one and all.

The linguistic concept of ‘didactique adaptee du francais en milieu creolophone’ ( Chaudenson, 2006)
based on the principles of ‘partenariat des langues’ would then be more appropriate and helps to remove
barriers between Creole and French. In an era of globalisation, former colonial languages have no reasons to
maintain antagonistic relations with the local languages but rather be supportive.

 The decisive political and pedagogical outcome

Two parliamentary questions have been raised by the Opposition Party in the National Assembly in 2007
and 2008 about the position of the present government on the Mauritian Creole project of catholic schools.
The first reply of the Minister was quite categorical in reasserting that English remains official the medium
10
of instruction. In contrast, in his second reply, the Minister shows a sharp evolution in the government’s
position :

On 11 June 2008, a Committee chaired by the Permanent Secretary of my Ministry examined the
proposed Terms of Reference submitted by BEC. However, in view of the fact that I have
received representations of a similar nature regarding Bhojpuri, the Terms of Reference of the
Committee would have to be enlarged to include Bhojpuri as well, as both Mauritian Creole and
Bhojpuri as heritage languages. ( Reply to PQ 29 July 2008)

This reference to ‘heritage languages’ inevitably changes the pedagogical perspective of Catholic education.
It moves the issue on the ethnic ground and what Eisenlohr (2006) describes as the ‘politics of diasporic
ancestral cultures’ of the Hindu political establishment. It is the policy of the symbolic bond with the
country of origin (India) whereby the ethnic group pays prior allegiance to the land of their ancestors, its
religion, language and cultural elements. This gives weight to the argument of Tirvassen (2002):

Compte tenu de la situation sociopolitique et de l’imaginaire tant linguistique que culturel, il

semble que l’Etat mauricien n’ait d’autre alternative que d’adopter une politique qui consister à
trouver un équilibre dans la répartition des moyens qu’il met à la disposition du système
éducative. Le souci du gouvernement n’est pas le coût financier de ses décisions mais bien les
effets sociaux pervers que celles-ci entraînent.

The latter is not studied at school. Bhojpuri is spoken today by only 19 % of the population ( ref. Table 1).
In the 19th century about 60% of the Indian immigrants came from the North Eastern Provinces of Bihar and
they brought with them their languages. Bhojpuri gradually emerged as the lingua franca of the people of
Indian origin. Over the years many Bhojpuri Hindus disown Bhojpuri in favour of Hindi ( Hookoomsingh ,
2007). The latter is perceived as having both literary and cultural prestige. Thus, the best option for left to
policymakers is to introduce Mauritian Creole and Bhojpuri as additional optional language subjects on par
with existing Asian / Oriental languages and Arabic. This would make Mauritian school and society at large
become more inclusive. AfroKreols’ quest for identity may unexpectedly pave the way for a Mauritian
identity.

CONCLUSION

This paper reflected on the future of Creole language in the Republic of Mauritius. First we looked at the
sociolinguistic context by looking mainly at the people and the languages and the educational system.
Second, we made a historical review of the evolution of Mauritian Creole since 1968. We identified five
stages, namely : (i) the nationalist period just after independence (ii) class struggle and Creole propaganda
in the 1970’s with trade unionism (iii) cultural militants in the late 1970’s to the end of 1980’s (iv) the
11
malaise creole in the 1990’s marked by the February riots and the rise of the AfroKreol consciousness (v)
the current stage which heralded a new era with the codification of Mauritian Creole ( Grafi-Larmoni) in
2004 ; the introduction of Mauritian Creole in formal education with the Prevokbek programme in the
prevocational stream of catholic secondary schools ; the advent of the first monolingual Mauritian Creole
dictionary. Third, we assessed the impact of the AfroKreol consciousness on Mauritian Creole. We observed
that AfroKreol has much to do with an ideological position to apprehend the Creole issue than with the
phenotype. The main impact of the AfroKreol movement would be the struggle for the Constitutional
recognition of the Creole community, the development of a historical self, the claim for Mauritian Creole as
the ancestral language of the AfroKreols, the strategic change in linguistic allegiance with a an English-
Mauritian Creole bilingualism while French remains the language and culture of affiliations. Finally, we
observed that AfroKreol consciousness lobbying could influence educational policies to introduce Mauritian
Creole as an optional subject on the same basis as Oriental languages with a strong ethnic marker. We
concluded that AfroKreols’ quest for identity may unexpectedly pave the way for a Mauritian identity.

REFERENCE LIST

AEA Report ( 2005) ‘Initiating and conducting an Experimental Peer review exercise in Africa’, Mauritius report

Annual Report (2007), National Human Rights Commission, Mauritius

Arjoon Jean-Jacques( 2004) , ‘Le Kreol v/s le Morisyen’ : p.5 in Newspaper L’Express, 18 février 2004

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