Malbars or Malabars are an ethnic group of South Indian origin (primarily from a Tamil background) in Réunion, a French island in the Southwest Indian Ocean, The Malbars constitute 25% of the population of Réunion and are estimated to be around 180,000.[2]
There have been people of South Indian origin on the island since the 17th century, and those were mostly from Pondicherry.[3] Most were originally brought in as indentured labourers in the second half of the 19th century and were mostly South Indian Tamils.[4] Since then, the Malbars have developed some patterns of behaviour that are not quite those of their ancestors from Tamil Nadu nor those of the other inhabitants of Réunion.
Malbars is derived from the word Malabar, a term which was used often by the French and other Westerners to refer to all Southern Indians, including the Tamils, Malayalees, Telugus and Kannadigas. This term is based on the Malabar region of the present state of Kerala in India[5] This term, applied by the French to Tamil labourers coming to Réunion, has been kept by the latter and others on the island to label their own identity.
Indian workers came to Réunion from South India, mostly from the current-day Tamil Nadu but also from Andhra Pradesh, through the French settlements of Pondicherry (Pondichéry) and Karaikal (Karikal). Most of these immigrants were ritually low in the caste system.[6] Hard living conditions at home were the main reason behind their departure to La Réunion. The immigration of indentured workers from South India started in 1827 but it was only after 1848 that indentured immigration began on a big scale.[7]
Proportion of adults with a name of Indian origin in Réunion in 1960
The French government in Réunion made the first Malbars become Christian.[6] However, many Malbars were only nominally Christian.[6] The Tamil language was lost to language shift.[8]
The Malbars desire to learn their ancestors' culture, and started studying their language and religions especially from Tamil Nadu.[1] Recently many Malbars, particularly those of upper and middle classes, have started to become completely Hindu rather than nominally Christian.[9]
A genetic study has shown that the majority of the Indian origins of Malbars lie in the South-east of India. A significantly larger proportion comes from Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu.[10] The study also showed that 15-20% of the origins of Malbars come from elsewhere than India. Less than 1% comes from Europe.[10]
^ abc
Ghasarian, Christian (1997). "We Have the Best Gods! The Encounter Between Hinduism and Christianity in La Réunion". African and Asian Studies. 32 (3): 286–295. doi:10.1163/156852197X00079.
^Ghasarian, Christian. 1990. "Indianit La Réunion: gestion d'une double identit", Vibre au pluriel. Production sociale des identits l'le Maurice et l'le de La Réunion, J.L. Albert (ed.), Université de La Réunion/URA 1041 du CNRS.
^N. Nandhivarman (2009), "The Tamils of Réunion and their hybrid culture", New Indian Express, archived from the original on 2011-07-21, retrieved 2009-12-11: "Réunion is a typical example of outsourcing by the French East India Company, and its history reveals how an hybrid culture emanated amidst Tamil settlers there, who are Tamils but could not speak Tamil, their mother tongue lost in the interregnum of 5 generations of separation from their homeland ..."
^
Medea, Laurent (2002). "Creolisation and Globalisation in a Neo-Colonial Context: the Case of Réunion". Social Identities. 8 (1): 125–141. doi:10.1080/13504630220132053. S2CID145370724.
^ abDubut V, Murail P, Pech N, Thionville MD, Cartault F.; Murail; Pech; Thionville; Cartault (May 2009). "Inter- and extra-Indian admixture and genetic diversity in Réunion island revealed by analysis of mitochondrial DNA". Annals of Human Genetics. 73 (Pt 3): 314–34. doi:10.1111/j.1469-1809.2009.00519.x. PMID19397558. S2CID205598437.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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