Electric Fence Zine: Mauritius

Mauritius is unlike any other African country I've been to...

Gone are the days of hand washing clothes or cooking on charcoal. Here on L'Ile Maurice, washing machines, microwaves and televisions are in practically every home.

Also, instead of walking around or relying on shared taxis like matatus or dala dalas, people here get around using cars, mopeds, motorcycles and air-conditioned buses .. all which follow the British system and drive on the left side of the road.

Cell phone culture is different here as well. For instance, unlike in Nigeria, Kenya or Tanzania, people here actually use their cell phones to make phone calls... and lengthy phone calls at that! Hehe. From my experience, no such phenomenon exists in East or West Africa. In the countries I've visited previously, cell phones basically function as pagers. You call someone, hang up real fast (before they pick up), and let them call you back at their own expense if their credit permits.

The practice is so widespread it even has it’s own name –- “flashing.” and it’s great unless you REALLY need to talk to someone. For special occasions like those, people break down and send text messages... lots and lots of text messages. Perhaps that makes Mainland African cell phones less like pagers and more like sidekicks?

That's not to paint an overly rosy picture of life on Mauritius. There are definite disparities of wealth here, and many people who I would consider to be poor or at least economically unstable.. However, my point is that, even when that is considered, the quality of life here is still much higher than the rest of Sub Saharan Africa.

Mauritius also feels different than the rest of Africa because more than half of its population is ethnically Indian, and the society here reflects that. Lots of Mauritian women wear sarees and other types of traditional dress on a daily basis, and many women, young-and-old, wear bindis and rub a swatch of red dye on their scalps to signify that their married. Hindu festivals and “Indian Indentured Servants Day” are also celebrated as national holidays.

Similarly, of the three cable TV channels offered by the Mauritian Broadcasting Service, one channel is entirely in Hindi, with Bollywood films running 24/7. Also, since arriving, I've read several newspaper articles that referred to India as "la grande péninsule" .. (translation from french: the Great Peninsula).

However, these observations are not to suggest that Mauritius is simply little India. To the contrary, thirty percent of the population is descendent from Africans and five percent are Chinese, with both groups contributing significantly to Mauritian culture. Creole Sega dancing is the appointed national dance of Mauritius, and its originated in communities of African slaves. Furthermore, Mauritian cuisine has a distinct multi-cultural influence. A typical menu at a Mauritian restaurant features a blend of noodles, fried rice, biryanis, curries, tomato stews, seafood and roti. A final thing that sets Mauritius apart from India and beyond is that most people here speak French or French-derived Creole.

So… if you want to visualize Mauritius, just try to imagine an African island populated with Indians, a splattering of Africans, and the occasional Asian person, all whom speak French and dine on a combination of Chinese food, Indian cuisine, and down-home Creole cooking.

Although adjusting to things has been a veritable challenge, I can’t tell if I’m suffering from culture shock or culture confusion...

Posted by east of madagascar on Monday, October 23, 2006 at 6:09 PM | Permalink