Shifting Language Loyalties: A Case Study of Sunni Mauritian Muslims

Muslims form a heterogeneous minority group in multi-religious, multi-ethnic and multilingual Mauritius. Recognised by the Mauritian state as the main mosque on the island, the Jummah Mosque, which adheres to the Sunni school of thought, has contributed to preserve Urdu as a Muslim language by using this language for preaching. This study focuses on the relationship between institutional and popular language ideologies and loyalties, by investigating the language ideologies and loyalties of the institution that oversees local Sunni madrassahs, the Sunnee Madrassah Board (SMB), and those of a group of Sunni Mauritian Muslims (MMs). The findings reveal heterogeneous language ideologies and loyalties: the SMB has retained a degree of conservativism with respect to Urdu as a MM language, while the Sunni informants are slowly shifting away from Urdu as a MM language. This apparent mismatch between institutional ideologies and popular ideologies and loyalties is discussed with reference to Heller's concept of symbolic domination. The authors argue that the conservative stance taken by the institutions might be read as a subtle power game being played out between different local ethno-religious groups, as well as within the MM community.