Aims

In the 21st century, Mauritius remains a country which has largely retained the markers of its diverse ethnic origins, and retains significant levels of social segregation. In the absence of an indigenous population, race consciousness has been integral to the construction of social identity on the island.

These are rough and simplified demarcations. Other relevant minorities include Sino-Mauritians as well as Muslims of Indian heritage, whose ancestors were part of the indentured labour migration or arrived as independent traders dur­ing the same period.^[4] These categorizations do have a basis in history, however a rigid adherence to this conception obscures the complexity of the processes by which the island came to be populated. Neither the experience of slavery nor of that of indentured labour was uniform, which by itself is responsible for further fragmentation in societal composition.^[5] Additionally, it is worth point­ing out that in reality a great degree of metissage occurred in Mauritius. This is prima facie evident from the basic gender imbalance among the ethnicities in early census numbers, and has further been substantiated by anthropological and genealogical studies under the aegis of the Truth and Justice Commission.^[6] As its report states: “Mauritians have much more in common than they think they have and are much more united than they think they are”.^[7] Nevertheless, as is also observed, this unity is more “than they care to admit”.^[8] The unwilling­ness to confront personal histories, it is submitted, is detrimental to a common national consciousness.^[9]

While the parameters of this study prevent it from conducting a comprehen­sive investigation of the various genealogical facets of society and their socioeco­nomic reality, it seeks to establish a common history by examining both slavery and indentured labour during the 19th century. With the need for coercible labour to cultivate the island being the prime reason for how Mauritius came to be populated, the vast majority of Mauritians today are descendants of imported workers of one description or another.

This study's focus on the labour question also prevents a detailed analysis of other minority groups which were not directly involved in the query, such as traders of various ethnicities who settled as well as the resident gens de coleur, the free people of colour. However they too are part of the process which gave birth to the Mauritian nation, and their role is noted where relevant to the issues discussed.

It has been observed by scholars that academics have a tendency to construct separate histories of Mauritius that are demarcated along ethnic lines,^[10] with much scholarship singularly focused on either slavery or indentured labour. It is sub­mitted that this approach is at least partially the result of the broadly separable “epochs” evident in the historical timeline of Mauritius. This research, however, aligns itself with scholarship which consciously seeks to counteract the trend of separate histories.^[11]

1.1.4