Challenges and Prospects for the Chagos Archipelago

"The Chagossians were brutally expelled from their Indian Ocean home by UK officials who referred to them as 'Tarzans and Men Fridays'. In 2008 Lord Hoffman denied their right of return, casting them as incapable of living 'Crusoe-like'. The declaration of a 'no take' Marine Protected Area in 2010 further limited their conditions of return. As this language reveals, the expulsion and exile of the Chagossians repeats the gestures and practices of unbridled colonial power; and shows the complicity of law and science. But as the essays and artistic works in this book show, the collusion of successive U.S and U.K governments are resisted effectively at every turn. How are empires and nations created and remade? Can a fully decolonised nation avoid marginalising an ethnic or indigenous minority? How are environmental and 'green' agendas deployed for neo-colonial ends? This timely and multi-disciplinary book addresses these urgent questions that apply well beyond the fate of the Chagossians."

Stewart Motha, Professor of Law, Birkbeck, University of London, UK

"This extraordinary, polyvocal anthology amply documents the historic case of the Chagos islanders and their grotesque treatment at the hands of successive British Governments. It is an indispensable resource that illuminates the juridical, geopolitical, cultural and human dimensions of this long-running scandal. Anybody interested in the persistent politics of empire and colony has much to learn much from it."

Paul Gilroy, Professor of the Humanities, University College London, UK

"Urgent and uncompromising, this multilayered volume is a powerful reminder of Chagossians' on-going resistance to British and US colonisation in the 21st century."

Olivette Otele, Distinguished Research Professor of the Legacies and Memory of Slavery, Faculty of Law, SOAS, London, UK