Tracing Narratives: the Mauritian-Chagossian Sovereignty Dispute

Abstract

In a treaty for Mauritius to gain independence from the United Kingdom in 1968, the island was to relinquish one of its own, the Chagos Archipelago. From then on, Chagossians were evicted from their homes to make space for the United States Navy. Now known as the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), the complex politics that it carries is a neo-colonial marker in Mauritian history – an imperial move that has only recently been acknowledged by the United Nations and the World Court as unlawful.

In attempting to decentralize western narratives, this project is a call to action for international territories to recognize pan-African and post-colonial issues. Still, in doing that, it also questions who has the right to access research. And not only is the thesis a field guide to the multiple hurdles of the undertaking research; the existing colonial dispositions towards post-colonial systems, and questioning of gatekeeping history, but also a personal journal and critique of what it is truly like to be treated as an alien in a supposed culturally intimate space.