Creolization and the Maison des civilisations et de l’unité réunionnaise

Abstract

Créolité and creolization have emerged as conceptual vectors for understanding the polysemic configurations of societies born out of two matrices: the island and the plantation. Here Françoise Vergès speaks with Vivian Rehberg about her understanding of creolization on Reunion Island and the ongoing project to build a museum (the Maison des Civilisations et de L’unité Réunionnaise) for reinterpreting and representing the specific, shared space of encounters and exchange that is Reunion. The interview is followed by the translation of excerpts from the theoretical and poetic manifesto, Indian Oceans Creolizations, that Vergès co-authored with her colleague and friend Jean-Claude Carpanin Marimoutou.