Créolité and Réunionese Maloya: From ‘in-between’ to ‘Moorings’

At the beginning of October 2009, UNESCO announced that the culture of maloya, a genre of song and dance from the island of Réunion, would henceforth become an international heritage item. The Geneva committee, in placing this endangered form of culture under their protection, defined it as a ‘type...

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Main Author: Stephen Muecke
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: UTS ePRESS 2012-06-01
Series:PORTAL: Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/2564
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author Stephen Muecke
author_facet Stephen Muecke
author_sort Stephen Muecke
collection DOAJ
description At the beginning of October 2009, UNESCO announced that the culture of maloya, a genre of song and dance from the island of Réunion, would henceforth become an international heritage item. The Geneva committee, in placing this endangered form of culture under their protection, defined it as a ‘type of music, song and dance native to the island of Réunion’. There is nothing unusual in the fact that a marginal item of ‘immaterial’ culture, originating from a tiny speck of France in the Indian Ocean, should be noticed by an international organisation and ‘protected’ in this way. This discussion paper investigates versions of creole and créolité and the role of theory in the kind of advocacy that promoted maloya. It argues that ‘moorings’ (Vergès and Marimoutou), as a concept for creolisation studies, is more robust, concrete and precise than Bhabha’s ‘in-between’.
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spelling doaj.art-19ee94f712c242ceaf9aba584dbc621d2022-12-22T01:15:49ZengUTS ePRESSPORTAL: Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies1449-24902012-06-0191Créolité and Réunionese Maloya: From ‘in-between’ to ‘Moorings’Stephen MueckeAt the beginning of October 2009, UNESCO announced that the culture of maloya, a genre of song and dance from the island of Réunion, would henceforth become an international heritage item. The Geneva committee, in placing this endangered form of culture under their protection, defined it as a ‘type of music, song and dance native to the island of Réunion’. There is nothing unusual in the fact that a marginal item of ‘immaterial’ culture, originating from a tiny speck of France in the Indian Ocean, should be noticed by an international organisation and ‘protected’ in this way. This discussion paper investigates versions of creole and créolité and the role of theory in the kind of advocacy that promoted maloya. It argues that ‘moorings’ (Vergès and Marimoutou), as a concept for creolisation studies, is more robust, concrete and precise than Bhabha’s ‘in-between’.http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/2564Maloya, creolisation, Réunion, cultural heritage
spellingShingle Stephen Muecke
Créolité and Réunionese Maloya: From ‘in-between’ to ‘Moorings’
PORTAL: Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies
Maloya, creolisation, Réunion, cultural heritage
title Créolité and Réunionese Maloya: From ‘in-between’ to ‘Moorings’
title_full Créolité and Réunionese Maloya: From ‘in-between’ to ‘Moorings’
title_fullStr Créolité and Réunionese Maloya: From ‘in-between’ to ‘Moorings’
title_full_unstemmed Créolité and Réunionese Maloya: From ‘in-between’ to ‘Moorings’
title_short Créolité and Réunionese Maloya: From ‘in-between’ to ‘Moorings’
title_sort creolite and reunionese maloya from in between to moorings
topic Maloya, creolisation, Réunion, cultural heritage
url http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/2564
work_keys_str_mv AT stephenmuecke creoliteandreunionesemaloyafrominbetweentomoorings