Women and Culture in the Hard Days of Indenture: The Case of Mauritius

This paper aims to highlight the pivotal role of women in the island of Mauritius during the hard days of indenture, where they landed as dependent beings yet they proved to be robust in supporting the male migrants both physically and emotionally. It [mainly] focuses on women being instrumental in establishing a stable family life and also lays emphasis on the presence of women that was crucial in building the Indo-Mauritian community, by sowing cultural and religious roots on a new land, which was to become their homeland. A qualitative research methodology, more precisely the document analysis method has been used to explore and evaluate the social facts during indenture, based on books, journals, newspaper articles, documentary films and previous studies, that provide historical insights. Marina Carter has been a major reference by virtue of her authoritative studies and publications on immigration in Mauritius. While scholars, as in ([7]-[13]), [23] and [28] have elaborated on the contribution of the first generation of Indian women in the socio-economic field of Mauritius, little has been mentioned about women and culture. In this endeavour, the biosocial theory as well as a reflexive approach has been preferred to understand the lifestyle and perseverance of women of Indian origin in the cultural domain.