Decolonizing Britain in the 21st Century?: Chagos Islanders challenge the Crown, House of Lords, 30 June-3 July 2008
This article discusses the anthropological, legal, and political significance of a recent lawsuit before the House of Lords involving the people of the UK-controlled Chagos Archipelago, exiled during creation of the US military base on Diego Garcia. Building on a growing body of anthropological and historical literature about the people and the base, the article reviews the history leading up to the June hearing and describes its proceedings as part of the islander's four-decades-old movement to win a return to their homeland. On the one hand, it represents the closest the Chagossians have come to a return in nearly 40 years. On the other, the case holds implications for the right of return of other displaced peoples, the rights of indigenous peoples more broadly, the limits of government authority, the balance of power in British parliamentary democracy, and the deepening of democracy worldwide. The suit holds significance for anthropologists studying indigenous peoples, displacement and migration, human rights, the law, government officials, and foreign policy.
How a Plantation Became Paradise: Changing Representations of the Homeland Among Displaced Chagos Islanders
This article explores how representations of a homeland are transformed through experiences of displacement and resettlement, and asks how such transformed representations help or hinder political and legal struggles in exile. It compares songs composed by islanders while living on the colonial Chagos Archipelago with those composed by displaced Chagossians now living in Mauritius and Seychelles, which form part of an emergent collective historical imagination motivated by political and legal struggles for compensation and the right to return. The article demonstrates that a romanticized and standardized collective historical narrative has successfully elicited support for the Chagossian cause from diverse sources, but has unexpectedly posed major problems for the legal struggle. 
 
 
 
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L'article explore la maniere dont la representation de la terre natale est transformee par l'experience du deplacement et de la reinstallation, et interroge la maniere dont ces representations transformees favorisent ou genent les luttes politiques et judiciaires en exil. L'auteur compare les chants des insulaires vivant dans l'archipel colonial de Chagos avec ceux composes par les Chagossiens deplaces et vivant desormais dans l'ile Maurice et aux Seychelles. Ces derniers font emerger un imaginaire historique collectif motive par les luttes politique et judiciaire pour l'obtention d'un dedommagement et du droit au retour. L'article demontre qu'une narration historique collective romancee et standardisee a provoque l'adhesion a la cause chagossienne de la part de differents acteurs, mais a, de maniere inattendue, pose des problemes considerables dans le combat judiciaire.
Le Malaise Creole: Ethnic Identity in Mauritius
How does one explain the poverty and marginalization of a group that lives in a remarkably successful economy and peaceful society? A native anthropologist, the author provides critical insight into the dynamics of contemporary Mauritian society. In her meticulously researched study of ethnic, gender and racial discrimination in Mauritius, she addresses debates carried out in many developing societies on subaltern identities, ethnicity, poverty and social injustice. The book therefore also offers important empirical material for scholars interested in the wider Indian Ocean region and beyond.