Memorialisation and Identity in Mahé, India: Revealing French Colonial Legacies

Abstract

Mahé, nestled in the Mahé district of the Puducherry Union Territory in India, holds profound historical ties to French colonial India. Unlike the broader Indian subcontinent, which witnessed fervent anti-colonial movements against British rule leading to political decolonisation in 1947, Mahé experienced a belated political awakening, reluctantly integrating into the Indian Union in 1954. Despite the withdrawal of the French, the enduring legacy of French colonial ideology and culture continued to shape the ethos of Mahé. In contemporary times, a significant presence of French nationals in India, particularly in Pondicherry, Karaikal, and Mahé, has fostered the evolution of a unique linguistic identity known as Indian French. Within Mahé, landmarks such as St. Teresa’s Shrine, the Statue of Marianne in Tagore Park at Cherukallayi, remnants of St. George Fort, and sculptures inspired by M. Mukundan’s novel “On the Banks of the Mayyazhi” stand as tangible vestiges of the erstwhile French presence. Serving as repositories of bygone French culture, these sites emerge as dynamic arenas of memory production. Notably, Tagore Park in Mahé, adorned with fictional documentation through sculptures, assumes a pivotal role as a space that harmonizes memory and history, functioning as a reservoir for collective memory concerning French colonial rule. Mahé’s deliberate urban planning reflects a nuanced approach, embodying the concept of a living testament to French colonialism rather than a conventional museum. This architectural strategy underscores the deliberate preservation and commemoration of Mahé’s historical past. Through interviews with French nationals residing in Mahé, this research explores how these landmarks have become pivotal in the production of memories and the construction of identities for the French community in India and Mahé. Leveraging Maurice Halbwachs’ theoretical framework, the study unveils the intricate interplay between collective memory and present-day identity formation, shedding light on the transformation of personal memory into historical memory and its subsequent amalgamation into collective memory. With close to 50 French families residing in and around Mahé still, the study involves interviews with ten families, focusing on landmarks like St. Teresa’s Shrine, the Statue of Marianne, the ruins of St. George Fort, and sculptures based on one of M. Mukundan’s novels. So, through interviews of the French citizens of Mahé, this paper highlights how the cultural artefacts and popular landmarks of Mahé become sites of memory of the French colonisation.

Keywords

• mahé
• french colonialism
• memorialisation
• diffused museum
• collective memory