Distribution
The population of Rodrigues is about 38,000 and is growing by about 250 people each year in real terms, if we take into account the continuous emigration to Mauritius. It is a young population (57% are under 20 years old), with more women than men, and a density of 356 persons per km². It is essentially composed of two very dissimilar types. The Reds, who are in a very small minority, are descended from a few French families who came at the beginning of the colonization. The Blacks are descended from Malagasy or African slaves. They are also called Montagnards because, at the time of their emancipation, they went to settle inland. There are also a few Chinese who have come to set up businesses, and a few Indian officials from Mauritius.
Social fabric
Even though the territory seems tiny, 108 km², the population is relatively dispersed, which does not make it easy to install infrastructures and equipment. The social fabric is very strong and is based on two types of groupings: the village committees, which are involved in local development and the living environment; and the cooperatives, which are involved in livestock, agriculture and fishing. The role of the latter is threefold: as purchasing groups, they make it possible to reduce the cost of acquiring products and equipment; as marketing groups, they promote the massive export of Rodriguan production on the Mauritian market at guaranteed prices; as training bodies, they play an information, awareness-raising and extension role among small farmers. Village committees and cooperatives reach almost all Rodriguans who are thus very involved in the life of their region. Even if young people tend to abandon the traditional agricultural sector and dream of more westernized shores, the inhabitants globally preserve a very strong cultural identity, and the community centres regularly serve as gathering places for traditional festivals.
Education
As in Mauritius, where it is an important axis of development, education is not neglected in Rodrigues, even if it did not start before the 1950s... There are currently 34 pre-primary schools, of which 4 are public and the other 30 private. Recently, pre-primary school teachers have been receiving compensation from the government, an initiative instituted to give poor families the chance to send their children to school. Parents pay a lump sum of Rs 100 per month, which is used by the schools for administrative costs, repairs or improvements, or the purchase and/or renewal of school materials. The first primary school opened its doors only in 1966 and owes its development to the Catholic Church, since as early as 1920, nuns were involved in the education of young Rodriguans. 17 primary schools are operational today. Secondary education came into being under the direction of the Church of England. In 1961, following the arrival on the island of Father Cathan, a first secondary school, Saint Barnabas, was established. To support this educational impetus, the Catholic Church in turn established St. Louis College. In 1974, following long negotiations, the two establishments merged to form Rodrigues College, established in Port Mathurin, which remains the only ecumenical establishment on the island. The 6 other colleges created since then belong to the REDCO (Rodrigues Educational Development Company). The island also has a technical college, the MITD (Mauritius Institution of Training and Development). The language of instruction is English even though the teachers do not hesitate to use French and even Creole to explain the most difficult exercises. For higher education, places are reserved at the University of Mauritius for Rodriguans who have passed the Higher School Certificate. Only the children of wealthy parents can go there, which limits the number of candidates, even if there are state scholarships. The best students go abroad to study thanks to the few scholarships granted by France and India.
Religion
Catholicism is by far the dominant religion. The distribution by denomination is as follows: Catholics: 95.27%, other Christians: 3.25%; Muslims: 0.42%; Hindus: 0.54%; other religions: 0.23%; not indicated: 0.29%.
The Catholic Church has deep historical roots in Rodrigues and has played a unifying role since the beginning of the French colonization. In 1736, Mahé de La Bourdonnais, governor of Isle de France, sent some colonists to the island to capture turtles. They were able to assess the importance of the Christian religion for the population, despite the absence of a priest on the island. The first man of the Church, Father François Thévaux, sent from Mauritius by Father Jacques-Désiré Laval, arrived in Rodrigues in 1850. The island had then 400 inhabitants, and Catholicism, under the leadership of the priest, experienced a real boom. Two chapels were built, one in Port-Mathurin, the other in Saint-Gabriel. In 1869, Rodrigues became a parish with a residential priest. And during the 20th century, the Church continued its development programme with the creation of five parochial schools. Today, Catholicism is still very present in Rodrigues, with five parishes, a parish priest for each of them, nuns helping with spiritual and social animation, and a parish council composed of lay people willing to get involved in Church affairs. Pope John Paul II came to Rodrigues on October 15, 1989 to celebrate a mass at La Ferme and the event made a strong impression on the population. Saint-Gabriel, a cathedral built in 1933, remains the main building of worship, and Sunday mass is a must for many Rodriguans.Women's role
In the islands colonised by men, not in the anthropological sense, but in the most masculine sense of the term, women were for a long time under-represented (sailors did not take women on board), and then "exploited" as wombs and arms in order to establish the colony on a long-term basis. Degrading living conditions for generations favoured the emergence of particularly active solidarity between women who knew how to make themselves respected by their work, their courage, their ability and their intelligence. In Rodrigues, there is a particularly respected "community" of women: that of the octopus fisherwomen. Even if this traditional form of fishing is decried because of the damage it causes to the trampled coral reef, it is a difficult type of fishing which is practiced on foot, with rubber boots and a hat as the only protection, and a scrap metal pick as a weapon. The hunt, whose periods are now regulated to preserve the species, can last for hours under a blazing sun in the waters of the lagoon. It requires patience, concentration and know-how, qualities that the women of Rodrigues also use to raise their children, take care of the crops and livestock they are also responsible for, cook... And if the unemployment figures show that women are half as employed as men, it is undoubtedly because they already have three or four small jobs to support their families. Today, young women in Rodrigues are succeeding at school, obtaining diplomas and participating in a different way in the development of their island.
Dance and music
You only have to see the images of Serge Clair, Chief Commissioner of Rodrigues, starting a traditional "ourite" dance, octopus in his arms, to understand the importance of music and dance in the island's culture. You will never hear a Rodriguan complaining about his or her life or making fun of another person, but this is not the case with the lyrics of the improvised songs that cheerfully mock neighbours, friends and relatives!
Historically, the oldest musical form is the sega drum. With its origins in the cultural practices of the first black slaves, this music has not been influenced by Indian culture as was the case for the Mauritian sega. Its rhythm is much faster, and the sounds and dances that accompany it are very similar to what can be seen and heard in black Africa. The traditional instruments are the triangle, the drum (a wooden hoop covered with a stretched goat skin), the bobre (a wooden instrument made of a single string stretched by a bow and connected to a small resonance box), objects filled with seeds producing a sound similar to that of maracas, as well as metal objects (cans for example) rubbed or struck. If this traditional music has lost ground, it is still carried by many local groups such as Cascavel, Racines, Cardinal Blanc, Mannyok
...The other traditional music sung is the romance, whose lyrics tell the story of everyday life. It is a form of sega drum with a slow rhythm strongly influenced by the popular French music of the 18th century.
The first European settlers have indeed left traces in the Rodriguan culture, as the names and steps of the dances testify: the mazok (mazurka), the laval (the waltz), the kotis (the scottish), etc. For this music, which is still surprisingly close to the original European models in its melodies and which gave rhythm to private dances, the Rodriguans added a diatonic accordion to the traditional instruments, hence the name segakordeon. This instrument is still so omnipresent in today's local music that it enjoys its day of glory every 15th August!
