La Case créole

This essay focuses on the evolution of the humble case créole on Île de la Réunion, as physical ‘crystallisation’ of the various stages of the island’s colonial history and of the diverse cultural influences that have shaped its abiding features. As reflected in contemporary Reunionnese literature, the case créole also offers a potent symbol of a lost ‘art de vivre réunionnais’ and, implicitly, of marked, colonial-era racial and social divisions. Despite the seemingly ineluctable disappearance of the case créole as a living, lived-in milieu, recent developments paradoxically signal the enduring resilience and adaptability of this most evocative of (neo)colonial lieux de mémoire.