The symposium on the Mauritian diaspora held recently in Réduit showed that, despite their desire to fly away for whatever reason years ago, Mauritians living abroad remain Mauritian at heart. They still have their native identity imprinted in their minds and wish to give something back to their homeland. At a time when we increasingly speak of cosmopolitanism and globalisation, such an example is eloquent: people may keep their national identity while learning to think more globally.

This is what Dr Uma Kothari from the University of Manchester tried to demonstrate in her talk at the British Council last Thursday… “There is a paradox when we talk of globalisation. It is undeniable that borders have come down for goods and services but there is equally no doubt that they have gone up as far as the movement of people is concerned; the movement of labour is more than ever controlled,” she explained right away. But the question is, do people have to travel abroad to be considered cosmopolitan or global? In fact, thinking globally should mean having understanding or empathy for others – neighbours or any other people. Showing interest in people who do not have the same culture, religion, social class or race may actually mean that a person is thinking “globally” – which in no way means that he/she rejects a national, religious, cultural or whatever other identity.

When Dr Khotari was preparing her paper on Global Pedlars and Local Networks, she had the opportunity to see how street pedlars in Barcelona were incredibly mobile while continuing to make full use of their local networks abroad. Even though many pedlars choose this lifestyle for material reasons – they might not be able to earn a living in their own country – some also decide to become pedlars because they “wanted to travel and see the world. Without movement, there is no progress”.

Open to all people around</B>