The Myth of the Empty TerritoryThe Tragedy of the Chagos Islanders

  1. Esther Pujolràs-Noguer 1
  2. Felicity Hand 2
  1. 1 Universitat de Lleida (España)
  2. 2 Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (España)
Revista:
Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses

ISSN: 0211-5913

Any de publicació: 2021

Títol de l'exemplar: Indian Ocean Imaginaries / Imaginarios Indoceánicos

Número: 82

Pàgines: 155-172

Tipus: Article

DOI: 10.25145/J.RECAESIN.2021.82.11 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openRIULL editor

Altres publicacions en: Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses

Resum

In this article we outline the tragedy of the Chagos Islanders forcibly evicted from their homeland to make way for an American military base. A new colony was invented, the British Indian Ocean Territory, which would be declared a marine reserve in 2010. The British have refused to allow the Chagossians the right to return to their homelands not to protect the environment, but rather to safeguard the political agreement based on economic and military imperialism. Therefore this community has been condemned to historical erasure as their stories are imbricated in the official narration of an empty territory. To prevent the plight of the Chagossians from falling into oblivion, we organized a creative writing workshop with members of the community in order to grant visibility to the Chagossian fight for identity and recognition.

Fuente de los datos: Dialnet