Thursday, September 3, 2009

Video on Music/Diasporic History of Reunion

Check out this documentary that I found online about Reunionnais music/culture/history:

http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/906/Reunion-of%20Rhythms



Enjoy. Let me know what you think.

6 comments:

  1. Bonjour Seth,
    I am curious to know about your first month in Reunion Island? Your impressions? Negative and positive. I am a French woman with a strong Reunionese heritage and I live in the USA.
    I am also writing a PhD dissertation on Reunionese Identity.
    I would love to know more about your opinion about this island. I notice that you read some good literature on Reunion's history.

    Enjoy the food, enjoy the hiking, enjoy the colors and the smells!!!

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  2. Hello Seth. Thank-you for your interesting blog. My name is David and I am from Vancouver, Canada. I am also interested in teaching English in Reunion. I don't know why, but this island has always intrigued me. I have a B.Ed in Secondary English and ESL and an MA in Applied Linguistics (TESL), but I don't know much French. Do you think it would be possible for me to find a job teaching English? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank-you for your time. David Penner
    davepenner@hotmail.com

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  3. Anonymous,

    Wow! I would be really interested to hear more about your dissertation project. It took almost a month before I got settled down in a place with water, electricity, internet, fridge, etc. However, now that I have these luxuries, I hope to add more posts to my blog.

    My first impressions of the island are, well, more than I can write in a short blog. However, the diversity of peoples and cultures on the island is both fascinating and, at times, overwhelming. I consider myself very fortunate to be able to both work and live on Reunion Island and hope to write more in the next few days.

    David,

    I'm not sure how difficult it would be to find english teaching positions in schools on the island. As an assistant, I do not make much money (this is a program through the French government that is targeted towards recent college graduates in the US and current college students in the UK and elsewhere. I know that it is difficult to find native English-speaking peoples on the island, so that may help you in terms of finding a job. I also believe, however, that without French citizenship it is tricky at best to find employment here (some 30% of Reunionnais people are unemployed). Wish I could be of more help, and I will let you know if I hear of anything else.

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  4. Dear Seth,
    You seem to greatly enjoy your stay so far and hiking is gorgeous, isn't it. Try to go on the top of the Piton des Neiges both through Salazie and through Cilaos. you'll see it is SPECTACULAR - you have to wake up super early thru.
    I am so happy you found your way and your "place" on this incredible Island.

    My mother is actually going to La Reunion at the end of this week. She is from there so she'll be visiting our family. For the past two years I have been going with her to do my research in the Universite of la Reunion. If you want to know more about the island, go there to the "Salle Ocean", it is full of treasures (check the literature, the history/anthropology and finally the botanic sections).
    Writing about Reunionese identity is extremely complex, I try to approach it in two ways (personal and academic). However, I try to remain an observer. I basically rely on what I hear in my family (friends, relatives). If you want later to do a dissertation on the Mascarene islands, you should consider immersing in the culture, befriend "kafs", "yabs",..., which might be at first difficult. Try to enter in the Reunionese world. It is a hard task (even the Zoreils- by now, I am sure you know what this word means- tend to stay together and seems have troubles entering the Creole universe). Go to the local "maison de la culture" or go to local associations - teach English to the Kids (I am sure you'll learn Creole with them!). I do not know if you are a churchgoer, but that is another place where you can meet a lot of people. In case you are protestant, there are severals protestant communities (They had a great gathering this week or last week)
    Voila! A lot of information!
    What about the food?
    A tres bientot et encore bon courage. Je suis contente d'avoir trouve ton blog.
    Cheers,
    Severine

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  5. hell ,
    me and my husband to be :).planning to move to Reunion .we now live in Dubai , he is french
    i've been trying to find something on internet on cost of living there but i couldnt ..also is it a multicultural place ..is there alot of expacts ? do i have to speak french ..
    i have a lot of questions but if you can help me with any of the above that would be great :)
    thanks

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  6. now that was hello ..not hell :)
    R

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