Under the Sky of Fetishes

Caroline Déodat / France, Mauritius / 2023 / World Premiere / 16 min.

synopsis

Sega is a dance and poetic practice that originated in the 18th century in the context of colonization and slavery on the island of Mauritius. It was repressed at the time of its birth and became a social taboo after the abolition of slavery; its “recognition” as a national heritage only came in the 1950s, when it established itself in tourist hotel scenes. The film follows the dancing body in detail, gradually stripping away the layers of oppressive views and interpretations.

“I knew that colonial archiving, and then the great Mauritian national narrative, gradually imposed a single post-colonial heritage narrative which, with it, dissipated the breath of the voices of the ségatières and ségatiers. What survives today is what is visible. The privilege of seeing remains with the tourists. On summer November evenings, they watch what's on show on the stages of hotels, bars and restaurants.”

Source: Swiss Journal of Sociocultural Anthropology.

biography

Caroline Déodat (1987) is an artist and researcher based at the Georg-Simmel Center in Paris. Her dissertation, Disturbing the genre of “typical Sega”. Imaginary and poetic performativity of Mauritian creolity was defended in 2016. Her artistic and scientific practice is focused on experimental ethnography and the anthropology of dance. Through films and installations, she seeks ways to weave threads of silenced or alienated stories into history.