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Heritage Tourism and Identity in the Mauritian Villages of Chamarel and Le Morne
Abstract
The island of Mauritius, situated in the southwest Indian Ocean region, is an integral part of southern Africa. A significant majority of its population, known locally as Creoles, are the descendants of African and Malagasy slaves who were forcibly relocated by European colonisers over a period of 300 years. This article discusses the situation of the Creoles living in two villages on the west coast of the island, focusing on the juncture between attempts to reconstruct Creole identity and the state's desire to encourage heritage tourism on the island. The article argues that efforts to emphasise the black, slave aspects of Creole identity and history risk the suppression of ethnic diversity and hybridity in Mauritian society. Currently, the dominant classes on the island are keen to articulate a homogeneous identity and history for Creoles as a means to obtaining a space of value and power in a society in which ethnicity is highly politicised. Some see this as a means to achieve national reconciliation and nation building. Heritage preservation, narrowly conceived, may actually undermine nation-building processes and essentialise Creole identity and history, however, unless the diversity of Creole experience is represented in a broad-based approach to heritage preservation and management.
... Eliminating local significance to satisfy the tourist market is very common. Boswell (2005) discussed the reconstruction of the Mauritius islanders' Creole identity in relationship to the state and encouragement of heritage tourism on the island. He pointed out that tourism development, a narrow means of heritage protection, destroyed the identity of local residents and suppressed ethnic diversity and mix. ...
... Instead, it oppressed locals due to an overemphasis on state-level demand in practice, making local groups feel more lost. When heritage encounters tourism, it is not uncommon to see local meanings being restructured to cater to the tourism market (Boswell, 2005;Sun & Zhou, 2015). The world heritage nomination was the first textural construction of the Diaolou, making it a tourism landscape and especially a landscape oriented toward the sightseeing market, which necessitates secondary textural processing. ...
In heritage movement and tourism development, places are reconstructed in the contest between different forces for heritage attribution and representation. Since the ‘Kaiping Diaolou and Villages’ were successfully inscribed on the World Heritage List, the development of Kaiping as a heritage site has triggered much discussion. This study considers how ‘Diaolou Country,’ as signified by the Diaolou, has been built up as a new image of Kaiping. The study uses various methods including a literature review, observation and interviews to analyze the process of place construction in Kaiping in the context of heritage tourism, with a focus on the subjective feelings of residents. It finds that with the top-down push of the government, the Diaolou has been compulsorily established as a highly symbolized local token; however, the heritage movement as a government decision has received no response from folk forces, which to some extent goes against the original intention of place identification of local groups and fails to fully represent local cultural connotations. Tourism continually consumes the symbol, yet expands the blind zone out of the symbol, and in the pattern of sightseeing, the Diaolou has been shaped as a tourism landscape. As a hollow place, the Diaolou Country can accommodate outside ideas more easily. This study also argues that the in-depth role of heritage as a medium in place construction should give full play to the potential suggested by the background of heritage tourism development. Furthermore, the close ties between heritage and local groups should be valued.
... This crater lake likely contains religious artifacts deposited since it was enshrined in the late 1800s (Claveyrolas 2018). The area around Le Morne and Trou Chenille to the southwest of the island, sites of commemoration to marronage, have seen both erosion and sea level rise that has resulted in the loss of coastal settlements, which are now entirely submerged (Boswell 2005(Boswell , 2006Seetah 2015). As the region has its own significant repository of wrecks (von Arnim 2018), this could provide an important way to compare marine environmental archaeologies between these forms of UCH. ...
This article brings together perspectives from public institutional, industrial, nongovernmental organizations, and academic partners, working to better assess the relationships between wrecks as artificial reefs, and their broader socioecological impacts. Maritime archaeology has justifiably emphasized the rich archaeohistorical and cultural heritage value of wrecks. However, wrecks have a defined impact on their immediate ecosystems, and, particularly in the case of historical wrecks which are often in situ for many hundreds of years, their ecological implications cannot be ignored. We present an easy-to-adopt framework merging a range of ecological approaches to assess wreck ecology. We identify the richness of the Mauritian context and emphasize the utility of centennial shipwrecks for assessing reef community dynamics over time. Ultimately, this paper is a call to action for environmental archaeology as a subdiscipline to pay more attention to the ecological and ecosystem functions that wrecks play in our oceans.
... Le Morne (Boswell, 2005) is also a UNESCO world heritage site proclaimed National Heritage on 24th January 2006. Located on the South side of Le Morne Brabant mountain, it served as a shelter by maroons (runaway slaves) (Eichmann, 2012;Owadally, 2009) from East African countries like Comoros, Madagascar, Mozambique, Senegal, Tanzania, and Yemen. ...
... For Afriski, climate is critical to the ability to take part in the primary attraction of the resort, as temperatures too warm or constant rainfall would prohibit skiing (Stockigt et al., 2018;Noome & Fitchett, 2019). While climate is important to beach tourists, alternate tourism offerings on the islands including cultural and heritage tourism (Boswell, 2005;Soper, 2007) would entertain tourists during unfavourable weather. The weather and climate are, however, more poignant in trips to these islands than visits to South Africa, where only a small proportion of destinations covered, offered predominantly outdoor attractions . ...
Favourable climate forms a key resource in attracting tourists to tropical coastal destinations. Warm temperatures and clear skies are ideal conditions for tourists to spend long days on the beach and engage in outdoor activities. By contrast, rain, strong winds, high humidity and cloud cover serve as a deterrent. These factors influence tourists’ choice of destination, timing and duration of stay, and enjoyment of their vacation, and are therefore imperative to the economic sustainability of a destination. This study explores tourists’ self-reported sensitivity to and satisfaction of weather and climatic conditions during visits to five tropical Indian Ocean Islands through the analysis of 13,618 TripAdvisor reviews. An average of 12% of reviews mentioned climatic factors, indicating a relatively high sensitivity to climate, with a highest proportion of 15.7% of reviews for Maldives. Rain was mentioned most frequently (21% of climate mentions), followed by sunshine and hot conditions. The majority of the reviews were authored in August and May, and more than 40% were written in a neutral tone, with similar but lower proportions of overtly negative and positive reviews. Thematic analysis of reviews highlight the importance of preparedness amongst tourists, emphasizing the need for accurate information communicated.
... Some designations seem to support the interplay between people and WH especially well and by doing so, present stakeholders with viable opportunities for engagement in their local WH (Brendehaug et al., 2011). Colliding interests and contested achievements following WH designation (Albert, Richon, Viñals, & Witcomb, 2012;Sande & Svels, 2014) may again cause conflicts, public dissent and local noncooperation (Boswell, 2005;Ishizawa & Wiegleb, 2012). According to Sullivan, the influence of experts may cause lost community ownership and responsibility for local heritage issues (Sullivan, 2003). ...
The main purpose of this article is to portray locals’ perception of tourism impact, rural development and the role of the local communities in two World Heritage (WH) sites. The impact of WH on tourism is a much-debated matter for both WH practitioners and academics while United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) during the last 10 years has emphasised the concept of “community” as an integrated feature of the WH strategy. The results are based on an empirical attitude study in combination with focus group interviews portraying local residents’ perception of WH designation and tourism in the transnational WH High Coast/Kvarken Archipelago situated in Sweden and Finland. The overall local perception of WH designation is quite similar in both countries, although ways of administrating WH sites differ. The results show an overall positive attitude towards local tourism development, but a relatively low understanding of UNESCO WH concept. High Coast residents seem to be overall more positive than the locals in Kvarken to the WH designation and a possible increase in tourism. The Finnish authorities, on the one hand, seem to have a stronger urge to benefit from the WH status than their Swedish counterparts. Nevertheless, the WH status in the rural areas of the High Coast region fits into a larger destination building and does not alone constitute the driving force for regional tourism development. Both WH sites show a limited and partly conflict-laden collaboration between communities and authorities in WH planning. Improved cooperation between actors would give WH and tourism a better chance to develop and at the same time display a more positive image of the WH sites.
... Research related to livelihood and tourism in Rajasthan is limited or almost zilch, although some related research in other developing countries (Namibia, South Africa, Mauritius, Indonesia, etc.) has been published (Ashley, 2000;Boswell, 2005;Chib, 1980;Diamond, 1977;Hampton, 2003;Sreekumar & Parayil, 2002). This article is based on the primary field survey and interviews with people in two small villages, namely, Oriya in Mount Abu and Laxmon ki Basti in Sam Desert, Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan, in November 2009. ...
The study has been carried out in two villages of Rajasthan?Oriya village in Mount Abu and Laxmon Ki Basti in Jaisalmer subdivision. In spite of being closely located to two tourist spots (Mount Abu and Sam Desert), the livelihood of the two villagers has shown vastly different patterns of development. While the inhabitants of Laxmon ki Basti are vulnerable and exposed to a variety of risks due to the low endowment of physical resources, low level of human capital (education and skills) and lack of proper institutional development, the quality of life is comparatively far superior for the residents of Oriya village. The study attempts to analyse the impact of tourism on livelihood patterns of the working population of these two villages. It is of special significance as an important source of economic activity for a majority of the working population in Laxmon ki Basti, although camel safari is seasonal and depends on the influx of tourists.
... Scholarly Work on the Socioeconomic Impact of Ethnic Tourism Worldwide Recent literature contains two contrasting perspectives regarding the socioeconomic impact of ethnic tourism on local minority residents (Adams, 2006;Boswell, 2005;Bruner, 2005;Hitchcock, 2000;Middleton, 2004, p. 73). The first widely accepted perspective is that ethnic tourism has multiple benefits, such as cultural/identity revival and socioeconomic, and sometimes even political, gains for local minority residents (Adams, 2003, p. 571;Andereck, Valentine, Knopf, & Vogt, 2005, p. 1057Kent, 2006, p. 101;Hipwell, 2007, pp. ...
This article examines the complex interplay between heritage, cultural identity, and state power, as exemplified by the contested heritage discourse surrounding a sea temple and the Chinese cult of Guandi in Mauritius. The main temple of Guandi in Mauritius abound in aquatic and oceanic manifestations, which stand in sharp contrast with state-endorsed, land-based Guandi temples in China. This contrast suggests a distinct cultural identity of the Chinese society in the Southwest Indian Ocean region. As reflected in the narratives of both Mauritian and Chinese authorities, the temple and cult also figure prominently in the re-imagining of Mauritian nation building and China's Maritime Silk Road Initiative. Drawing on critical heritage studies and the revitalised academic focus on sea temples that revisits the overlooked maritime connectivity, this article demonstrates how a historically-forged transoceanic identity in the name of Guandi is being contested by the new processes of heritagisation initiated by the Mauritian and Chinese states and how appreciation of the maritime heritage of Chinese diaspora in the Indian Ocean can re-emerge when the interpretation of the cult shifts from its role as one component of Mauritian and Chinese national heritage to its unorthodox oceanic reinvention.
This article explores how traditional healing is regulated in the island of Mauritius. Drawing on postcolonial Science and Technology Studies and their encounter with socio-legal studies, it maps the emergence of the Ayurveda and Other Traditional Medicines Act of 1990, pointing out the selectivity of the notion of ‘tradition’ and its entanglement to broader nation-making processes, born in the process of its independence from Britain. While the social and political histories embedded in the text of the law favour the authorisation of some healing traditions and not others, outside its scope, other practices persist, and triggering competing visions about the island’s healing futures. By bringing into the frame the plurality of Mauritius’s healing landscape, where different traditions coexist despite their ambiguous legal status, this article accounts for the tensions in the regulation of traditional medicine, where the law produces its own inclusions and exclusions, and mundane legalities of everyday healing become sites of broader political questioning about the relationship between law, science, and nation-making.
Tourism is fundamental to eradicate poverty and fostering sustainable development. Yet, there is limited research on how impoverished communities perceive the impacts of tourism on poverty alleviation. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to address this gap in the literature and contribute to the academic research on tourism and poverty alleviation. This study established a triple bottom line framework to explore tourism impacts on poverty alleviation at Le Morne village, as the study area. Online semi-structured interviews were conducted with local residents.
The findings show that locals' perceptions of tourist impacts and poverty are based on their own personal experiences. Tourism development has been a momentous contributor to alleviating multidimensional poverty in the study location to a certain extent. The most critical tourism impacts for poverty alleviation is the increase in the number of jobs and revenue in the economy. The study also identifies a number of issues and barriers facing by poor residents in participating in tourism. The most important barrier is overdependence on tourism, poor water and sanitation and no access to health and transport services. The study also deals with the concept of Sustainable Development Goals as the basis of eradicating extreme poverty at Le Morne village. Generally, the area where greater progress is required is goal 2, 3, 6, 9 and 17. To sum up, although tourism may bring some short run benefits for the poor, there is need for the participation of various stakeholders to make it a long- term contribution to poverty reduction.
Historically, in different countries walls are
built for different purposes. Among others,
defense purpose is the most common one.
For instance, to mention a few, we do have
the Great Wall of China was built from
3rdcentury B.C to 17thcentury A.D, the Great
Zimbabwe Wall was built from 1100–1450
A.D; the Koso Defense mud Wall in Nigeria
was built from1000 to 1500 A.D, in Kenya
the Gunda-buche Wall and in Ethiopia, the
Jegol Wall of Harer city was built in the 16th
century for defensive purposes. Likewise, the
Dawuro kings who ruled Dawuro between
16th to 18th centuries pursued a common
goal of establishing a dependable defense
mechanism by building walls and digging
ditches. These defensive walls are known as
the great walls of Dawuro or locally named
as kati halala keela. The average height of a
wall is about 2.6m, and its average width is
about 3.5m. The sum total of the rows
estimated to be about more than 1000 kms.
The walls were made of stones without any
joining materials like masonry and cement.
The walls had seven main gateways called
lappunnmitsa. Accordingly, this paper
attempts to elucidate whether the
construction technology of the Walls evolved
from traditional terracing practices. It also
presents why the walls were purposefully
built and how they used dry stones as
building materials. The article discerns that
resource mobilization for the construction
was based on the owed quota system in
family and village levels. Besides, it found
that the walls are being destructed by both
human activities and natural factors. The
indigenous construction technology and
spirit of cooperation that manifested
through the living wall of Halala Keela is
now prone to extinction. Thus, this article is
based on fieldwork between 2010-11 and
thus it used primary data collected through
observation, semi-structured interviews, and
focus group discussion. Besides, secondary
data were used to supplement the primary
data. Finally, it calls for intervention to put
in place the proper management of the
heritage and to combat the further extinction
of the wall.
Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, Japan has been experiencing an unprecedented decline in population that is expected to accelerate over the coming decades. Rural areas, in particular, have been at the cutting edge of this demographic transition as young people often out-migrate to urban areas to pursue education and career opportunities and to explore spaces and lifeways viewed as cosmopolitan and international. At the same time, some urbanites have decided to either return to the rural climes of their upbringing or move there for the first time to start small businesses. And rural communities have attempted to attract large projects, such as the International Linear Collider, that it is hoped will draw in new people, prevent younger people from out-migrating, and bolster local economies. A combination of individual and institutional entrepreneurial activities is changing the social and geographical landscape of rural Japan and reinventing that space as one that blends perceptions and experiences of the urban and rural, cosmopolitan and rustic.
While there has been considerable research on rural Japan and numerous studies that focus on entrepreneurs, only limited attention has been paid to the intersection of entrepreneurial activities in rural Japan and the ways in which entrepreneurs more generally are contributing to the re-formation of rural space and place. This ethnographic study develops the concept of cosmopolitan rurality as a social and geographical space that cannot be characterized as either urban or rural nor as specifically cosmopolitan or rustic. In the “rural” Japan of the early twenty-first, as in many other parts of the industrial world, we see the emergence of a new type of social context forming a hybrid space of neo-rurality that brings together people and ideas reflecting local, national, and global frames of experience. One of the key drivers behind this hybrid space is expressed in entrepreneurial activities by locals to generate an entrepreneurial ecosystem that it is hoped can attract new people and ideas while retaining ideational and geographical elements associated with traditional values and spaces.
Cosmopolitan Rurality, Depopulation, and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in 21st-Century Japan is an important book for Asian studies, rural studies, anthropology, and the study of entrepreneurialism.
Mauritian multiculturalism has been dominantly explored in terms of theoretical models based on Western experiences of
multiculturalism premised on binary structures such as native/migrant, majority/minority and agonal/social consensus set-ups.
Scholarly works on Mauritius have exclusively focused on state policies regimenting multiculturalism in terms of ancestral origins,
which they argue, have led to the marginalization of Creole communities who are characterized as hybrid (Eisenlohr (2007);
Eriksen (2004); Lionnet (2009); Prabhu (2005); and Boswell (2005)). The official categorization of Mauritius as a nation in terms
of religion (Hindus, Muslims) and race (Chinese) and General Population (a residual category) has set the terms within which
identity is to be constructed, and precluded long-term engagement with other possible identity configurations. I initially collected
data on how naming practices shaped the identity of about a hundred young Creoles aged between 18-25 years, with the
assumption that, in a similar way to diasporic Black populations such as African Americans, they had begun re-claiming and resignifying
some of the racial slurs that had essentialised their identities in terms of their phenotype. However, while the data
collected from 100 non-Creole respondents (aged between 18-25) provided a repertoire of names that racialised Creole identity,
female Creole respondents of the same age, in particular, consistently invoked their identities in relation to non-racial markers.
Using the concept of everyday multiculturalism (Harris, 2013), I argue that young Creoles articulate identity in terms of everyday
life negotiations that both re-activate and circumvent race. Following Butler (1991), this paper will understand identity categories
as partial, contingent and provisional, and discuss young Creoles’ erasure of race as a means to resist a fossilized racial logic.
This study uses the case of the "Safeguard" of Venice-in which there is a continuous tension between the aspiration to "modernize" and to "restore" the city, its economy, and its surrounding lagoon environment-to highlight the symbolic function of heritage in shaping government policies. It demonstrates how the effectiveness of the national government as a guarantor of the Safeguard of Venice was questioned both in the name of tradition and of modernization and discusses the unintended consequences of this continuous dramatization of the state and its policies for the city. The study points at some challenges posed by heritage conservation on state identity at a time of increasing transnationalization of heritage policies and private sector involvement.
Africa is richly blessed with cultural and natural heritage, key resources for nation building and development. Unfortunately, heritage is not being systematically researched or recognised, denying Africans the chance to learn about and benefit from heritage initiatives. This book offers a preliminary discussion of factors challenging the management of intangible cultural heritage in the African communities of Zanzibar, Mauritius and Seychelles. These islands are part of an overlapping cultural and economic zone influenced by a long history of slavery and colonial rule, a situation that has produced inequalities and underdevelopment. In all of them, heritage management is seriously underfinanced and under-resourced. African descendant heritage is given little attention and this continues to erode identity and sense of belonging to the nation. In Zanzibar tensions between majority and minority political parties affect heritage initiatives on the island. In Mauritius, the need to diversify the economy and tourism sector is encouraging the commercialisation of heritage and the homogenisation of Creole identity. In Seychelles, the legacy of socialist rule affects the conceptualisation and management of heritage, discouraging managers from exploring the island's widerange of intangible heritages. The author concludes that more funding and attention needs to be given to heritage management in Africa and its diaspora. Rosabelle Boswell is a senior lecturer in the Anthropology Department at Rhodes University, South Africa and a specialist of the southwest Indian Ocean islands. Her research interests include ethnicity, heritage, gender and development. Boswell's PhD was on poverty and identity among Creoles in Mauritius and her most recent work is onthe role of scent and fragrances in the heritage of the Swahili islands of the Indian Ocean region. © Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, 2008. All rights reserved.
This chapter examines how cultural tourism enhances the quality-of-life of the many types of communities it affects. While cultural tourism exists first and foremost for the benefit of tourists and the tourism industry, its building blocks are based on a community’s tangible and intangible cultural heritage assets. Much has been written about the adverse impacts of tourism on local communities, but relatively little research has examined how cultural tourism enhances quality-of-life. The chapter begins by contextualizing cultural tourism and identifying four different types of communities it affects. The main body of the chapter examines the impacts on economic development, conservation, nation building and national mythmaking, community well-being, and the provision of leisure and recreation facilities. Case studies from Hong Kong and southern China are used to explore key themes in greater detail.
In this article, we consider whether there is something about the spatiality of islands which makes them particularly fertile spaces for the emergence of creolized and/or diasporic identities. Drawing on the insights of social geographers, we argue that as well as considering temporal dimensions of creolization and diaspora it could also be fruitful to consider the spatial realm within which they emerge. Following an overview of the ways in which “islandness” has been conceptualized in social theory, we use the examples of the French Antilles and Mauritius to explore in more depth some of the contexts in which creolized or diasporic identities emerge. Our argument is not that creolization and diaspora emerge only on islands, nor do we suggest that all islands inevitably experience creolization and diaspora in some form. Rather, we explore the extent to which the spatial characteristics of certain islands we have meant that one could point to a certain “elective affinity” between creolization, diaspora, and islandness.
During the last 30 years, our understanding of the nation-building process in various parts of Europe and across the globe has increased substantially. Some of the most important results of this growing body of studies will be discussed in this review article, which consists of four parts. First, I will examine some innovative trends in the field of nationalism studies, such as the growing attention for the impact of nationalism on popular culture and the interplay between regional and national identities. The second part makes clear that the overwhelming majority of existing studies deals with one region or nation, while taking the national framework for granted. By presenting the history of Europe as a collection of (isolated) national histories, most scholars still fall prey to a methodological nationalism. One way to overcome this (implicit) methodological nationalism is to analyse the impact of foreign tourism on the construction and diffusion of national and regional identities. The role of tourism in the construction of territorial identities has already been explored in a growing number of studies. Some of the most important contributions to this field will be reviewed in the third part. Finally, I will argue that the impact of foreign visitors on the nation-building process can best be studied in a comparative way by focusing on local communities as the arena in which the outside influences of an international, national and regional level came together and demanded a local response.
This article discusses the findings of a Delphi survey of owners and managers of historic properties, officers of heritage-based organizations, consultants, and academics from across the United Kingdom. The purpose of the study was to investigate the major constraints and imperatives relating to the long-term management of built heritage attractions. Three related issues were assessed: the fundamental mission of heritage attractions; the factors which impact upon decisions relating to charging for tourist entry; and the perceptions of heritage managers as to the respective roles of such attractions and public agencies in funding tourism management and heritage conservation programs. The paper then considers the significance of these issues in assessing potential strategies for moving heritage tourism toward sustainability.RésuméLa gestion du tourisme patrimonial. Cet article discute des résultats d’une enquête Delphi parmi des propriétaires et gérants des propriétés historiques, des comités directeurs d’organisations patrimoniales, des consultants et des universitaires de partout dans le Royaume-Uni. L’objet de l’étude était d’examiner les contraintes et impératifs liés à la gestion à long terme des attractions patrimoniales construites. On évalue trois questions apparentées: la mission fondamentale des attractions patrimoniales, les facteurs qui influent sur la tarification et les perceptions des gérants au sujet du rôle des attractions et des organismes gouvernementaux pour le financement de la gestion du tourisme et des programmes de sauvegarde. On considère ensuite l’importance de ces questions pour évaluer des stratégies éventuelles pour faire progresser le tourisme patrimonial vers la durabilité.