Kreol at school: a case study of Mauritian Muslims' language and literacy ideologies

Negotiating their double identity as Mauritians and Muslims in multilingual and in multiethnic Mauritius, Mauritian Muslims have been socialised into reading and writing in Kreol in madrassahs, while they have never been exposed to Kreol literacy in mainstream education. At the point where Kreol is being introduced as an optional school subject, and given that the Mauritian Muslim community has made particular use of written Kreol in the madrassah, this community becomes an interesting test case to explore its language and literacy ideologies with respect to Kreol. A case study approach was used to investigate madrassah informants' language and literacy ideologies, their attitudes to and perceptions of Kreol at the madrassah and at school. The findings reveal that they tolerate written Kreol at the madrassah, but that they use a French-Kreol literacy variety and aspire to shift to French in the near future. Furthermore, they have ambivalent attitudes towards the introduction of Kreol as an optional school subject and potential medium of instruction. These findings are discussed in relation to the micro-practices occurring in the madrassah and the macro-context, both of which reinforce dominant historically situated popular ideologies about Kreol literacy.