Sacralising the Contested The Chagossian Diaspora and their First Pilgrimage to the Homeland Dissertation To obtain the doctoral degree of Philosophy (Dr. Phil) Submitted to The Faculty of Philosophy 1 Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg By Mr. Steffen Fagernes Johannessen Born on 7 August 1977 in Porsgrunn, Norway Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Burkhard Schnepel (Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg). Prof. Dr. Günther Schlee (Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Saale). Date of Ph.D. defence: 14.01.2015. Sacralising the Contested The Chagossian Diaspora and their First Pilgrimage to the Homeland Steffen Fagernes Johannessen To make themselves the master of memory and forgetfulness is one of the great preoccupations of the classes, groups, and individuals who have dominated and continue to dominate historical societies. The things forgotten or not mentioned by history reveal these mechanisms for the manipulation of collective memory. Jacques LeGoff (1992, 54) Nothing is as likely to ensure that humans will assert (or invent) their differences than being made aware [...] of the indifference of the state to their predicament. It could not, if I may be allowed the pun, be Otherwise. Nor is it hard to understand why, when faced with such indifference, subordinated groups should stress their cultural distinctiveness in agitating against disempowerment John L. Comaroff (1996, 174) A pilgrimage is a return to a place. [...] While tombstones are mostly signs of absence, and mostly silent, at times of pilgrimage they are noisy with the sounds of many presences. Movement makes all the difference. We cannot understand the grave, the destination, without paying attention to the journey beyond it. Engseng Ho (2006, 7-8) TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS I TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS IV INDIAN OCEAN MAP V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS VI LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS VIII ZUSAMMENFASSUNG IN DEUTSCHER SPRACHE IX 1 DEPARTURE 1 LAND IN SIGHT: RESEARCH FIELD AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS 4 THE SEAS OF LITERATURE: RESEARCH SCOPE, FOCUS AND CONTRIBUTION 6 MOVING BEYOND AN ‘ANTHROPOLOGY OF PILGRIMAGE’ 12 METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS 25 SETTING THE COURSE 33 2 MAURITIUS AND ITS DEPENDENCIES: FROM COLONISATION TO EMBEDDED AUTONOMY 36 DISCOVERY AND COLONISATION OF MAURITIUS AND ITS DEPENDENCIES 37 LIFE AND WORK IN THE CHAGOS ARCHIPELAGO : A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 46 POSTCOLONIAL MAURITIUS AND ITS DEPENDENCIES 68 ARRIVALS 73 3 BECOMING CHAGOSSIAN: PROTESTS WITHOUT AND WITHIN AN ETHNICALLY ORDERED WORLD 75 THE DISAPPEARANCE AND REAPPEARANCE OF THE CHAGOSSIAN SEGA 77 FIRST PHASE: PROTESTS IN THE FRAME OF A GENERAL SOCIALIST UPRISING 81 SECOND PHASE: SUBMITTING THE STRUGGLE TO THE FRAMEWORK OF AN ETHNICALLY ORDERED WORLD 87 RESISTANCE WITHOUT AND WITHIN AN ETHNICALLY ORDERED WORLD 104 ARRIVALS 108 4 ALL ABOARD?: THE POLITICS OF THE CHAGOS ARCHIPELAGO AND THE COMPETITION FOR CHAGOSSIAN SELF-IDENTIFICATION 110 THE CHAGOS ARCHIPELAGO AS A SITE OF CONTEST 111 NEGOTIATING A JOURNEY TO THE CHAGOS ARCHIPELAGO 122 i A SITE OF CONTEST 131 THE COMPETITION FOR CHAGOSSIAN SELF-IDENTIFICATION 132 ARRIVALS 153 5 “BACK 2 PARADISE”: THE FORMATION AND WORKINGS OF A DOMINANT CHAGOSSIAN AUTO/BIOGRAPHY 157 NARRATION AND IDENTIFICATION 161 CHAGOSSIAN HISTORY AS META–PILGRIMAGE 193 ARRIVALS 200 6 A STAIN ON THE MIRROR : CHAGOSSIANS IN MAURITIUS 204 NATIONALISM AND THE PLURAL SOCIETY 205 NATIONALISM IN POLY-ETHNIC MAURITIUS: ‘UNITY IN DIVERSITY’ 207 UNITY IN DEVELOPMENT? 218 TIME AND THE ETHNIC: ‘DEVELOPMENT IN DIVERSITY’ 224 CHAGOSSIANS AND THE MAURITIAN NATION 229 ARRIVALS 247 7 MOVING FORWARD OR STAYING BACKWARD: CHAGOSSIAN DIASPORISATION IN AN AGE OF EVICTIONS 250 APPROACHING DIASPORAS 251 MAPPING THE LIMITS OF A POLITICALLY UNIFIED CHAGOSSIAN DIASPORA 254 CHAGOSSIAN DIASPORISATION 258 ONE DIASPORA AND TWO HOMELANDS 261 CHAGOSSIANS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT IN (NEO)COLONIAL DISCOURSE 268 EXODUS IN DEVELOPMENT 277 ARRIVALS 283 8 REMEMBERING AND THE DEAD: THE CHAGOSSIAN RETURN TO THEIR ANCESTORS’ GRAVES 286 PEREGRINATING TO THE ANCESTORS’ GRAVES 287 ii CLEANING FOR THE DEAD 293 CLEANING FOR THE LIVING 300 SACRALISING THE CONTESTED 306 ARRIVALS 316 9 CONCLUSIONS: SACRALISING THE CONTESTED 319 SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS 320 THE CHAGOSSIAN JOURNEY AND THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF PILGRIMAGE 329 REFERENCES 342 iii TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS Illustration 1: Political map of the Western Indian Ocean. ..................................................................................... v Illustration 2: The ship Nordvær leaving the Chagos Archipelago with the last group of Chagossians in 1973 ..... 4 Illustration 3: The Mauritius Trochetia in Port Louis harbour 2006 ........................................................................ 4 Illustration 4: Yard and house entrance at field site. ............................................................................................ 30 Illustration 5: Map of islands in the Chagos Archipelago ..................................................................................... 48 Illustration 6: Paintings of life and work in the Chagos Archipelago around the late 1960s ................................ 55 Illustration 7: Number of Chagos islanders in the Chagos Archipelago from 1780 to 1973 ................................. 57 Illustration 8: Map of East Point village on Diego Garcia around 1960 ................................................................ 58 Illustration 9: Monthly wages among employees of the Société Huilière de Diego et Peros ................................ 58 Illustration 10: “A man among men” .................................................................................................................... 92 Illustration 11: Chagossian political T-shirts presenting the Chagos Archipelago as a single island. ................... 94 Illustration 12: Grup Tambour Chagos performing the sega .............................................................................. 101 Illustration 13: Chagossians performing the sega in a bus. ................................................................................ 107 Illustration 14: Lalit demonstration outside US embassy in Port Louis. .............................................................. 152 Illustration 15: Chagossians uprooting a tree in front of family’s home. ........................................................... 176 Illustration 16: Chagossians decorating the CRG office in Cassis before the journey to the Chagos in 2006. .... 192 Illustration 17: “Olivier Bancoult, our Moses” .................................................................................................... 196 Illustration 18: “We beat the British Queen!” ..................................................................................................... 196 Illustration 19: “If you believe you can, you can” ............................................................................................... 196 Illustration 20: Political banner on the front of a bus reading “if you believe, you can?” .................................. 196 Illustration 21: Mauritius’ official Independence Day logo 2004 ........................................................................ 216 Illustration 22: The CRG banner defended by CRG leader Olivier Bancoult in press conference ........................ 236 Illustration 23: The route of the Chagossian pilgrimage March - April 2006 ...................................................... 288 Illustration 24: Guests and hosts: Newspaper illustration of Chagossians arriving to the BIOT ......................... 290 Illustration 25: Chagossians performing masses for the ancestors in Peros Banhos chapel .............................. 290 Illustration 26: Abandoned cemetery in the Chagos Archipelago....................................................................... 296 Illustration 27: Abandoned manager's house in Peros Banhos .......................................................................... 296 Illustration 28: Funeral altar erected in the house of a deceased person ........................................................... 296 Illustration 29: Painting of an abandoned house in the Chagos Archipelago ..................................................... 296 Illustration 30: Chagossian memorial in Port Louis Harbour .............................................................................. 303 Illustration 31: Chagossian pilgrims at the Chagossian memorial in Port Louis 30 March 2006 ........................ 303 Illustration 32: Chagossian woman ringing the church bells in St.Sacrement church in Cassis .......................... 308 Illustration 33: Chagossian pilgrims about to enter St. Sacrement church ......................................................... 308 Illustration 34: Souvenirs brought to Mauritius from the Chagos Archipelago .................................................. 313 Illustration 35: Popular ascription to pilgrimage and tourism as opposing categories of travel ........................ 334 iv INDIAN OCEAN MAP Illustration 1: Political map of the Western Indian Ocean. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In autumn 2005 I received a three-year PhD grant from the Graduate School Society and Culture in Motion (SCM), then the Graduate School Asia and Africa in World Reference Systems (GSAA), at the Martin-Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg in the German city Halle an der Saale. In addition to providing most of the funding for this project, this research has benefited greatly from the Graduate School’s international and interdisciplinary academic