ABSTRACT
The unusual 'variety of traditions, races and languages' present in Mauritius is potentially a source of national pride. This is manifest in Mauritians' behaviour vis-a-vis foreigners, in tourist brochures etc. In actual social situations, however, multi-ethnicity is conventionally felt as a strain rather than an asset. Some intellectuals are in favour of some form of pluriculturalisme mauricien, notions of tolerance and diversity, as a shared system of representations. On the popular level, 'Sakenn pe prie dan so fason' is a common proverb of tolerance, encountered in virtually every ethnic. In the terminology of systems theory, we might say that a composite cultural show propagates subjective perceptions of being integrated on a higher systemic level – from communal to national identity. Independence celebrations, like Ramgoolam's funeral but unlike the MMM and associated trade unions, are intended chiefly as redefinitions of cultural reality.
