László Lajtai Semmelweis University Budapest Institute of

László Lajtai Semmelweis University , Budapest, Institute of Behavioural Sciences University of Edinburgh School of Social and Political Science Department of Social Anthropology Language Games, Reproducing Inequalities, and an "Opiod Democracy": The Triumph of Buprenorphine in Mauritius Emerging Africa 2012 Old Friends, New Partnerships and Perspectives for the 21 st Century 14 – 16 June 2012 University of Pécs, Africa Research Centre

Field sites 9 months stationary anthropoogical fieldwork 2009 - 2010

MAURITIUS Île Maurice Moris population: 1. 2 million main island: 1865 km² GDP (PPP) Pro Capita (IMF): 11, 992 $ 52% Hindu 17% Muslim (69% Indo-Mauritian) 28% Creole (‘Afro – Mauritian’) 2% Sino-Mauritian <1% Franco-Mauritian Many Controversies regarding the Categories! Communalism. Compartmentalised social stratification.

Languages in Mauritius Baker, 1972; Stein, 1982; Rajah-Carrim, 2004; Atchia-Emmerich, 2005 Three Main: Mauritian Creole - French - English Also spoken: Bhojpuri, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Marathi, Hakka, Cantonese, Gujarati ‘Ancestral’ languages the Education, Religion and Media in : Hindi, Urdu, (Arabic), Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Mandarin

Multilingualism in Mauritius Mauritian Creole is used with family members, friends, neighbours, houseemployees, colleagues, especially subordinate ones, people in the street (unless strangers), in the market, in most shops, with taxi-drivers and policemen, and in personal topics. French is preferred in the bank, post-office, clubs, restaurants, and clinics, with office clerks, government officers, bosses, Catholic priests, and in writing or reading. Diglossia, code mix and code-switching English is used in government offices and parliament, court, written documents (official language) and books , in education, with tourists, strangers (except Creole strangers), teachers, occasionally with friends and not subordinate colleagues, in some businesses, . Stylistic marker. Contrary to global trends, French has been taking over positions from English. ‘Oriental’ languages are only in use in specific religious occasions, sometimes with family members inside the family house (Bhojpuri and Hakka). These languages have high symbolic, emotional, identity-forming and political importance.

Sectors of Health Care in Mauritius Ø Hospital – Mauritian Creole, English Ø Clinique – French, Mauritian Creole Ø Cabinet Ø NGO Mauritian Creole, French - Mauritian Creole, French Ø Traditional Healing Mauritian Creole –

Clinique Bon Pasteur Clinique Med Point Clinique Ferrière

Centre de Solidarité - Rosehill

Seized Subutex Smuggled from France

Buprenorphine

Politics in Mauritius Ø On 24 th February 2010, Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam declared that he was in favour of the re-introduction of the death penalty in Mauritius in order to crack down on the traffickers of Subutex (Kanhye 2010). Ø At the climax of the electoral campaign which led up to Mauritian General Elections in May 2010, Paul Bérenger, leader of the opposition, seeking the most impressive catch-phrases to influence the electors, announced a campaign against the ‘Subutex Mafia’ and called his political opponents ‘une alliance Subutex dirigée par des fils à papa’(Chavrimootoo 2010 a; 2010 b). (“The alliance of Subutex led by [three] daddies’ boys”) the three parties in the government alliance were led by sons of three famous elder statesmen of Mauritius.

The Rise of Buprenorphine Ø The cumulative prevalence of officially recorded HIV positive cases in Mauritius (CUT 2010; Government of Mauritius, National Aids Secretariat Prime Ministers’s Office 2010): Ø Ø Ø Ø 1987: 1997: 2001: 2003: 2005: 2007: 2008: 2009: Ø Ø Ø Reasons: 1. Iv. Subutex Use 2. Prostitution 1 168 356 698 2161 3284 3841 4389

Centre de Solidarité – The Verandah I. Rosehill

Centre de Solidarité – The Verandah II. Rosehill Ø “Parmi bann toxikoman pena endien, pena kreol, pena misilman…” (“There is no Indian, no Creole, no Muslim among the drug addicts”) Ø „Opioid Democracy” Ø Ease to approach – Use of Mauritian Creole Ø Relative informal therapeuthic relations - NGO

Group Therapy session in the Kominote (Cd. S Triolet) I.

Group Therapy session in the Kominote (Cd. S Triolet) II. Ø Exceptional opportunity Ø „Tou Korek” mentality (historic reference) Ø „Lack” of „psychological” vocabulary Ø Contrast between informal and formal Ø Failure of the session (Resistence signs)

The Price of Social Equilibrium Ø Social peace – Underlying tensions Ø Internalised anxiety Ø Substance use and misuse Ø Limited chances for „Cure” in biomedical sense

Theoretical Perspective and Conclusions Linguistic Marketplace (Bourdieu) - commodities Ø „Technologies” of Power (Foucault) – linguistic Ø „Real” ideology - unaware ideology (Žižek) Ø Perspective from an Eastern European nation state Ø Ø Ø Ø Postcolonial elites „Toxic” Francophonie Fights and sabotage about standardisation Reproduction of inequalities Escape routes can be detrimental – substance misuse Treatment and Care for Health and Mental Health controversially re-enforce power relations and do not cure but worsens mental problems

Thank you – Köszönöm– Mersi

Mauritius No aboriginal population Ø ‘Arab’ – Portuguese - Dutch antecedents Ø 1721 – French colony – Plantations and African slaves Ø 1810 – British colony - Sugarcane Ø 1842 – 1902 Indian Immigration of indentured labourers Dominant French aristocracy, rise of the Gens-du-Couleur, communalism Ø (1947 -) 1968 - Plural parliamentary democracy, parties on both ethnic and class grounds, diverse coalitions Ø 1968 Independence – Arc-en-Ciel/Arkansyel/Rainbow Fabianism Ø 1965, 1967, 1999 Riots Ø Ethnic, religious and caste institutions endogamy Ø EPZ, Tourism and the ‘Thompson effect’ «Dans une société fragile comme Maurice, on ne devrait pas jouer avec la langue, la culture et la religion. » Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam

WEEK-END --- dimanche 15 juillet 2007 VIH & Sida Satish Faugoo: "Nous n'avons pas assez fait" La lutte contre le VIH et Sida sera coordonnée à travers le National Multisectorial HIV and AIDS Strategic Framework 2007 -2011. Le plan a été validé la semaine dernière… Dans la lutte contre le Sida, Satish Faugoo estime que "ce n'est pas que nous n'ayons rien fait, c'est plutôt que nous n'avons pas assez fait". Maurice veut apprendre de ses erreurs et rectifier le tir, dit le ministre de la Santé. L'analyse et l'évaluation du travail effectués dans le passé ont aidé dans la préparation du National Multisectorial HIV and AIDS Strategic Framework 2007 -2011. Ce document viendra remplacer le HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan 20012005… Les objectifs de ce plan ont été présentés par le Dr Timol, Principal Medical Officer. Satish Faugoo a expliqué qu'il est nécessaire de savoir évaluer ce type de projet et que le monitoring est primordial. Le Dr Pathak a été nommée à la tête du National Aids Secretariat, du PMO, pour veiller à l'implémentation du plan. Par ailleurs, Satish Faugoo explique le HIV Bill, voté au Parlement l'année dernière, devrait être proclamé à la fin de ce mois…

Respondents to the question of ‘the language usually spoken’ in six Censuses (Stein 1982: 225, 1986, Bissoonauth and Offord 2001, and Rajah-Carrim 2003). 1944 1952 1962 1972 1983 1990 2000 Total 419. 185 447. 462 638. 746 826. 199 966. 863 1. 022. 456 1. 143. 069 Creole 149. 380 35. 6% 197. 706 44. 2% 289. 112 45. 3% 428. 434 51. 9% 521. 950 53. 98% 617. 630 60. 5% 791. 465 69. 24% 197. 050 201. 616 19. 7% 142. 385 12. 46% Bhojpuri Hindi 219. 093 52. 3% 174. 474 39. 0% 206. 978 32. 4% 262. 198 31. 7% 111. 134 12. 845 1. 3% 7. 245 0. 63% Bhojpuri+Hindi 219. 093 52. 3% 174. 474 39. 0% 206. 978 32. 4% 262. 198 31. 74% 308. 184 31. 87% 214. 461 21. 0% 149. 630 13. 09% Urdu 11. 7965 2. 6% 40. 667 6. 4% 23. 470 2. 9% 23. 572 2. 44% 6. 804 0. 7% 1. 789 0. 16% Tamil 9. 481 2. 1% 17. 970 2. 8% 29. 094 3. 5% 35. 646 3. 68% 8. 002 0. 8% 3. 622 0. 32% Telugu 3. 564 0. 8% 6. 721 1. 1% 17. 364 2. 1% 15. 364 1. 59% 6. 437 0. 6% 2. 169 0. 19% Marathi 1. 341 0. 3% 7. 420 1. 2% 12. 036 1. 5% 12. 420 1. 28% 7535 0. 7% 1. 888 0. 17% Chinese languages 9. 931 2. 4% 11. 262 2. 5% 13. 621 2. 1% 9. 417 1. 1% 6. 156 0. 64% 3. 650 0. 3% 8. 736 0. 76% French 35. 895 8. 6% 36. 227 8. 1% 53. 367 8. 3% 39. 240 4. 8% 36. 048 3. 73% 34. 343 3. 4% 39. 827 3. 44% English 1. 386 0. 3% 656 1. 824 0. 3% 2. 279 0. 3% 2. 028 0. 21% 2. 232 3. 505 0. 31% 0. 2%

Biomedicine in Mauritius (Kalla, 1995; Devi, 2008; Government of Mauritius (www. gov. mu) Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø Reports of Fast development after 1945, malaria eradication, sudden drop in fertility rate Free health care from primary to tertiary level Private sector – „Clinics”, „Cabinets”, „Apollo-Bramwell” Basic medical training, foreign training to become specialist No major shortage of medics; exporting doctors Life expectancy 68· 7 years for men and 75· 6 years for women Psychiatry > Brown Sequard Hospital Diabetes, Obesity, Cardiovascular diseases Rising HIV rate, 90% iv. Drug users Health tourism