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The Indian Ocean islands of Mauritius, Réunion, and Seychelles, named the "Mascareignes" after a Portuguese explorer, are products of an eastward African diaspora, almost invisible in the West except to a few historians. Empty of human population until European exploitation settled them with a few colonists and thousands of slaves from East Africa and Madagascar, their multicultural history demonstrates the astonishing durability of African and Malagasy cultures. Folktales provide the finest window into that history and its values. Through that window, creolization is revealed in its actual occurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses ways in which diasporic folktales may contribute to an understanding of globalization. Examples of Southwest Indian Ocean tales; History of Indians in Mauritius; Argument that contact with non-Indian people has given Indo-Mauritians a capacity for self-reflection that is expressed in jokes; Introduction into the literary system a heightened awareness of cultural diversity and ambiguity; Connection of the disciplines of linguistics and folkloristics.