ABSTRACT
This two-part piece argues for creolization in India as a historical process with entangled global and local dimensions and postcolonial repercussions. It also demonstrates the radical potential of recognizing India, and Pondicherry in particular, as a creolized space where comings and goings of people under the French empire have left unexpected traces that disrupt the coloniality of power and social ramifications. Within this small enclave, streets, cemeteries, and neighborhoods bear witness to the often uncomfortable collaborations, negotiations, and compromises that are the hallmarks of creolization. Who tells these stories today, and how do we assess their own claims of revisionism? I approach these issues by presenting material I developed during a two-year collaboration with Franco-Pondicherrian writer Ari Gautier on the online platform le thinnai Kreyol (2020–2022): a translation of an unpublished short story by him, and an exegetical commentary from which I draw out a theory of creole Indias.
