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Tamils - a Nation
without a State
Reunion
- estimated 120,000 Tamils
(including second language speakers) live in Reunion
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Ethnologue Database: Reunion
Reunion Tamils stage Sit In to protest
against genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka - 21 February
2009
A sit in was organized to support
Tamils of Sri Lanka by Reunion Island 's TAMIL SANGAM
presided by Dr.Shanmugam. hundreds of tamilians and non
tamilians protested against the programmed genocide of
Tamilians of Sri Lanka. A banner written in French said
"Halt to the genocide of Tamils in Sri lanka" photos
of the atrocities commited on civilians by Sri Lankan
army were displayed. Local Tamil girls read a French
poem written by a child victim of the war.The president
of Tamil Sangam denounced the apathy of the
international community and asked the intervention on
India and the United Nations to stop the killings.
Indentured immigration and social
accommodation in La R�union
- Christian Ghasarian, Center for South Asia Studies,
University of California-Berkeley
Tamils in the Diaspora are living in various places
among which the French Island of La
R�union in the Indian Ocean. Settled
in this relatively isolated Island since the second
part of the last century, Tamils have developed some
patterns of behavior that are not quite those of their
ancestors from Tamil Nadu nor those of the other
inhabitants of La R�union.
Anthropological investigations nevertheless show that
despite a strong policy of acculturation and
assimilation led by the French administration on the
populations transferred to the Island, people of Tamil
origin have managed to maintain, in an adapted manner,
most of their ancestral conceptions and practices. An
examination at some of these conceptions and practices
allows to catch a glance at the strengths and adaptive
resources of the Tamil culture. more
Firewalking in Reunion
"..Most fire walkers in French-speaking
Reunion are Tamil. Their ancestors were the first to
arrive from India to work on the island, located east
of Madagascar, as cane laborers. Life at that time was
difficult, but their adherence to the practices of
their religion and culture kept them strong and united.
Still today, this spirit of respect for ancestral
tradition binds them together in a land where they
are�as they have always
been�very much in the minority among
the 750,000 people in this Overseas Department (state)
of France..."
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