Rethinking non-traditional resistance at work: The case of the Indian Diaspora in Mauritius

Abstract

This version is available at https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/53988/ Strathprints is designed to allow users to access the research output of the University of Strathclyde. Unless otherwise explicitly stated on the manuscript, Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Please check the manuscript for details of any other licences that may have been applied. You may not engage in further distribution of the material for any profitmaking activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute both the url (https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/) and the content of this paper for research or private study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge.Any correspondence concerning this service should be sent to the Rethinking non-traditional resistance at work: the case of the Indian Diaspora in MauritiusResistance at work can take many forms and be theorised in multiple ways. In this paper, I use postcolonial theorist, Homi Bhabha's concepts of mimicry, ambivalence and hybridity to explore non-traditional forms of resistance among Indo-Mauritians working in the hotel industry. I employ a two-stage qualitative research approach by conducting focus groups in eight hotels in Mauritius followed by focused ethnography with twenty Indo-Mauritians. The findings reveal that the Indian diasporic community is actively engaging with its past (India) through the materiality of its home, its sacred space, and its use of Bhojpuri to communicate. By unfolding and maintaining its difference, it is constantly demarcating its personal space from that of the Other. As this behaviour extends to the workplace, salient forms of non-traditional resistance surface in rural regions.

The dynamics of language and ethnicity in Mauritius

“…It also raises concerns for the implications of such coexistence in other spheres of life such as the work place. To date, there is only one available study which looked at non-traditional forms of resistance in Mauritius (Sambajee, 2015). It focused on the Hindu Indo-Mauritians and their attachment to language (Bhojpuri) and religion.…”

“…Given that the majority of Indo-Mauritians came from Bihar, Bhojpuri, the local Bihari dialect also joined the country’s language repertoire. Recent research shows that its use has receded and it is now mostly spoken by the older generation as well as in rural regions (Sambajee, 2011). On the other hand, Kreol is unquestionably the language most spoken in Mauritius.…”

“…In both, data on the use of ‘one language only’ was collected (see section 16 of the population census report and section 6 of the 2011 report). This clearly overlooks the reality of language contact in Mauritius where monolinguals are rare (Sambajee, 2011). The mix and match of languages, including French and English, can be depicted in areas such as administration, work and education.…”

“…Eriksen (1998) echoed this stating that Mauritius was becoming a post-ethnic society where processes of modernity are leading to non-ethnic forms of self-identification. However, research conducted in 2008 showed that ethnic boundaries persist in certain regions and among certain ethnic groups (see Sambajee, 2011).…”

La resistencia en los estudios organizacionales: una revisión de literatura

“…Aunque estos enfoques tienen un conjunto de características comunes, difieren en algunos elementos, como sus fuentes, sus fines, el locus y su contexto sociohistórico y cultural. Los estudios poscoloniales se inspiran en trabajos como los de Said, Spivak y Bhabha y en las problemáticas de sus países de origen (Palestina e India) (Prasad & Prasad, 2003;Sambajee, 2015;Sinha & Bathini, 2019). Los decoloniales, por su parte, se inspiran en autores latinoamericanos, como Dussel y Quijano.…”