Research on French colonial architecture from a decolonial lens: the vernacular adaptation of Créole architecture of Port Louis, Mauritius.

This study investigates how the influences of the enslaved and their Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) impacted the evolution of French colonial architecture to Créole architecture. Colonial legacies have severely affected the IKS that reflect the pre-colonial ways of being integrated with nature and spirituality. Yet, processes such as creolisation in Mauritius have seen the evolution of IKS and its influences on Créole architecture and culture. The paper explores the historical background of the Créole architecture of Mauritius from the colony to the post-colony. Additionally, the review of literature situates the island within the global scholarship of Créole architecture, which often ignored the contribution of Mauritius. The Créole architecture of Mauritius is a complex space of occupation and exchange, and still it remains significantly understudied. Part of its complexity is how it represents colonial continuity while integrating processes of creolisation. This paper argues for a reframing of Créole architecture as a contested study site which involved both coloniality and decoloniality. In Mauritius, creolisation represents the resistance to colonial hegemony. And in that decolonial lens, the paper reveals the contribution of the enslaved to the evolution Créole architecture of Mauritius, through the application of their non-European knowledge of construction and material innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]