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[^0]:    1 A system of hiring under contract started in colonial times, after the abolition of slavery in 1834.  
waves of political struggle arose, particularly in the 1930s. Indian political awareness increased and class movements penetrated the Creole community, but the struggles remained compartmentalized. People of mixed race were still stigmatized, as shown by Mauritian novelists Carl de Souza (Le sang de l'Anglais), Marie-Thèrése Humbert (A l'autre bout de moi) and Ananda Devi (Pagli). The 1968 constitution recognized four ethno-religious groups: Hindus ( 52 per cent), Muslims ( 17 per cent), Mauritians of Chinese origin ( 3 per cent) and the general population ( 28 per cent). The fourth category grouped together that which remained of the former colonial society: white people of French and English origin and descendants of formerly enslaved black people, mostly of Afro-Malagasy or mixed-race descent.  
Although Mauritius proclaims itself the archetypal 'rainbow nation', a multicultural land par excellence, Mauritian society has developed on community foundations that hinder the emergence of a strong national identity and limit economic development (Jauze, 2004). Religion, culture, skin colour and socioeconomic status have been sources of division since the country's colonization. Communalism, which governs everyday social relationships, is expressed as much in community life as it is in political life, where the makeup of the parties and the discussions they hold are based on identity. In Mauritius, ethnicity, upon the basis of which each community has developed a particular way of life, remains a factor in spatial, community and economic division. Thus, in the towns, a clear relationship is established between an individual's ethnic descent, activity, socio-professional category and occupation of space.