An archaeology of the indentured experience: the history, society and culture of contract laborers and their descendants in Mauritius

Conference

Published on

18 May 2015

Updated on

14 June 2017

Colloquia

The archaeology of Migrations

International colloquium organized by Inrap, in partnership with the National Museum of Immigration History.
November 12 and 13, 2015 at the National Museum of Immigration History.

Archaeology of Migrations
by Krish Seetah, Stanford University

In 1834, soon after the abolition of slavery, Britain initiated the indentured experiment to fill the labour void created by the ending of slavery. The system proved successful and catalysed the displacement of over two million people from Asia, Africa and Melanesia to the Indian Ocean and islands in the Pacific and Caribbean. Given the wide geographic impact of indenture, it is surprising that this episode has remained virtually unexplored by archaeologists. This presentation focuses on the island of Mauritius, where the ‘Great Experiment’ was initiated. It presents the results of archaeological investigations detailing the organization of the indentured system, the lifeways of labourers on a day-to-day basis, and how the legacies of the past impact on the present.

Krish Seetah, PhD Cantab, is an assistant professor in the Anthropology Department at Stanford University and director of the Mauritian Archaeology and Cultural Heritage (MACH) project. His main specialism focuses on zooarchaeology, with particular interests in colonial encounters as viewed through fauna. This interest led to fieldwork initially in Cape Verde and subsequently in his native Mauritius. He is the editor of a forthcoming volume titled "Connecting Continents: Archaeology and History in the Indian Ocean World” (Ohio University Press: Indian Ocean Studies Series).

Bibliography

Seetah. K. The archaeology of Mauritius. Accepted for Antiquity.
Seetah. K. Contextualising complex social contact: Mauritius, a microcosm of global diaspora. Accepted for Cambridge Archaeological Journal.
Seetah. K. "The Minister will tell the nation...": the role of media for public archaeology in Mauritius. World Archaeology, Special volume: Public Archaeology. Vol. 47:2., pg. 285-298.
Seetah. K. Objects past: objects present: materials, resistance and memory from the Le Morne Old Cemetery, Mauritius. Journal of Social Archaeology. Vol. 15:2. DOI: 10.1177/1469605315575124.

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