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I have used this lockdown period to reread some old "classics". As I was reading Black Skin White Masks by Frantz Fanon, his chapter about language, especially in the context of Creole and the Antilles, reminded me of Mauritius and popular reactions to Mauritian Creole.
Whenever I tell people I am Mauritian, their first reaction is to ask "You speak French?" They get so excited when I respond in the affirmative. French is only my 2nd language, my mother tongue is Creole - the mother tongue of 70% of Mauritians. But people rarely care for it.
Many Mauritians rarely care for it too. In fact, we are encouraged to not speak Creole in classrooms, it is deemed to be a "rude" language. The official language of Parliament is English, French is the language in which most Mauritians study and Creole is the "informal" language.
Mauritian Creole was a pidgin, contact language which emerged from the forced slave interaction with colonial
culture in the eighteenth century. It was only codified, brought to official recognition and formally introduced in the Mauritian educational system in 2011.
culture in the eighteenth century. It was only codified, brought to official recognition and formally introduced in the Mauritian educational system in 2011.
When Fanon said: "The children of Martinique are taught to scorn the dialect. Some families completely forbid the use of Creole, and mothers ridicule their children for using it," it echoed, in many ways, the Mauritian experience.
This was observed by both Fanon and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o: "The taboo around Creole languages is a reflection of an inferiority complex, visible in the attachment of the colonized for the colonial language." This is why I personally refuse to speak French unless I am required to.
Let me leave it on that note. Here is a poem about Kaya, a musician and activist for the Mauritian Creole People who was campaigning against racism and for the decriminalization of cannabis. He was killed by the police while in detention, giving rise to the 1999 Mauritian riots.
