Introduction: Configuring the Middle Class

Grimson, Alejandro; Guizardi, Menara Lube; Merenson, Silvina

doi:10.4324/b23074-1

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“…With class mobility had come new tastes, new commitments, new things (and, as Lakshmi indicated, walls to protect them), and, of course, a sense of belonging in a global community (Grimson et al . 2022) that was radically facilitated by the arrival of digital tools. Ram, by contrast, had not benefited from economic mobility in the same ways.…”

Section: Miracle Reconsideredmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conscripting communalism: surveillance and resistance in contemporary Mauritius

Auerbach

2023

Africa

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In this article I explore changing state–citizen relationships in Mauritius. To do so, I outline and provide analysis of the system through which this Indian Ocean island has historically managed its diversity – a process that I call conscripting communalism. Conscripting communalism was formulated at independence in a context of behavioural predictions for the future that the internet era has challenged in powerful ways. To illustrate my argument, I explore three specific moments when ethnic and religious discourses were surpassed by collective concern within a rapidly authoritarianizing state: first, the sinking of the Wakashio oil tanker off the coast of Mauritius in 2020, which resulted in national solidarity towards the environment rather than communal violence; second, proposed legislation put forward by the Mauritian Information and Communication Technology Authority (ICTA) in 2021, which attempted to enable state surveillance of social media and which was soundly resisted by both domestic and external parties. And finally, I explore 2022 accusations that the Mauritian government authorized the installation of digital interception technology by representatives of the Indian state on one of the country’s fibre optic cables. The article argues that Mauritius represents an important site of analysis of the tensions between competing global visions of human rights, political autonomy, surveillance, solidarity and expectations for the future and the role of the internet in shaping these competing visions. I explore how new technologies have become the tools of both repression and resistance. The implications ripple far beyond the island.

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Section: Miracle Reconsideredmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conscripting communalism: surveillance and resistance in contemporary Mauritius

Auerbach

2023

Africa

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Introduction: Configuring the Middle Class

Cited by 1 publication

References 0 publications

Conscripting communalism: surveillance and resistance in contemporary Mauritius

Conscripting communalism: surveillance and resistance in contemporary Mauritius

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