Abstract des Autors

The analysis of the practical experience of swimming in la Reunion, shows the variety of their social uses. The model of sports swimming, turned towards competition, that appeared in the sixties, exerts a significant influence within the Creole culture. The federal structures, the school and the media have been the main carriers, that spread this sport culture. They have contributed to altering mentalities, as water was gradually becoming an element that was a source either of pleasure or performance. Yet, these sports techniques have but a relative effect of cultural uniformization. The spreading of sports swimming, at school, partially lightens cultural differences and the admittance to swimming club still entails a discrimination from a social and cultural stand-point. This leads us to uphold the idea that if Creole culture change according to its unavoidable contacts with French culture, it keeps a social (ethno)-cultural dynamism, that marks it out. Verf.-Referat