The politics of diaspora and the morality of secularism: Muslim identities and Islamic authority in Mauritius

Abstract

Previous work on inter-ethnic coexistence in Mauritius has portrayed secularism as the only possible site of the national, which is at the same time described as clearly separated from religious traditions. In contrast, focusing on understandings of secularism among Mauritian Muslims in the context of a politics of diasporic 'ancestral cultures', this article analyses secularism as a field of morality which is inseparable from questions of religious reform and authenticity. The discussion of ethnographic material from Mauritius suggests that the opposition between secularity and religiosity should be treated as a productive tension rather than a liberal antinomy.Recent anthropological studies of diasporas have highlighted their transnational orientation towards multiple political locations, which frequently places diasporas at odds with a prevailing global political order. Diasporic identifications do not, however, always stand in tension with national belonging. Indeed, the public performance of such identifications in ethnic holidays, religious festivals, ethnic cultural centres, and the state-sponsored cultivation of ancestral languages is one of the ways in which full membership in a Mauritian nation is claimed and demonstrated (cf. Eriksen ). Mauritians, who publicly celebrate a continuing memory of their origins in another part of the world through such activities, often experience diasporic belonging through the prism of purist, clearly demarcated, and officially recognized 'ancestral cultures' . These two themes come together in a hegemonic sense of cultural citizenship according to which Mauritians are primarily conceived as subjects with origins elsewhere and ongoing commitments to traditions whose diasporic character is highlighted (Eisenlohr in press). Although in the s and early s a political movement promoted a new Mauritian nationalism privileging locally created cultural forms, in particular the dominant local vernacular language Mauritian Creole as a base for Mauritian postcolonial nation-building, Mauritian state institutions clearly emphasize support and recognition of cultural traditions perceived as diasporic. 1 That is, the cultural politics of the Mauritian state privileges 'ancestral cultures' , experienced as diasporic insofar as their origins elsewhere are publicly emphasized, over those traditions which can be constructed as indigenous, such as the practice of Mauritian Creole. 2 At the same time,

Public religion and urban space in Europe

“…As Patrick Eisenlohr, for instance, has demonstrated for Mauritian society, secularity, and religion are best perceived as engaged in productive tension (Eisenlohr 2006). Governments and political agents co-define 'secular' and 'religious' domains and thus co-produce positions that legitimate certain political claims while foreclosing others.…”

Transformations of Religion and the Public Sphere

“…In Mauritius, Muslims constitute 17 per cent of the population of approximately 1.2 million, the percentage of Hindus is now 52 per cent, while people of Indian origin taken as a whole constitute almost 70 per cent of the population. Among Mauritian Muslims, I have documented a steady trend towards standardized orthodoxy in the course of the last 100 years mainly driven by transnational Gujarati trader communities (Eisenlohr, 2012). This trend has greatly increased following the heightened integration of Mauritius into neoliberal processes of globalization since the 1980s having brought about what many consider an 'economic miracle'.…”

“…Their influence is steadily pushed back by the Deobandis, above all the transnational missionary movement Tablighi Jamaat, while there is also a growing number of Salafis. The competition between rival Islamic traditions in Mauritius introduced through the cosmopolitan networks of Gujarati merchant communities led to a growing trend towards standardized, orthodox versions of Islam which were in turn recognized as Mauritian Muslims' 'ancestral culture' after independence in 1968 (Eisenlohr, 2006a).…”

Multiculturalism, Mauritian Style

“…On the contrary, religion is considered an important vector of "moral values" that reinforce toleration and peaceful coexistence (Eisenlohr, 2006b). First, different sociohistorical contexts breed different social conditions that are either more or less conducive to the acceptance of cultural diversity as a defining aspect of the nation.…”