When past and present meet

Primary research has been predominantly carried out in London. In Mauri­tius, various access issues were encountered which however have not proved an obstacle for the current research as nearly all relevant documents are also held in at the Public Records Office, including correspondences, Blue Books,^[86] and the Protector of Slaves Reports.

The Mauritius National Archives were consulted, but were found difficult to navigate, not least because of the absence of a searchable catalogue onsite. The Mauritius Archives are in the process of being digitalized, but the process has proved slow. Explorative research appears to be discouraged, since retrieval of documents is only by way of specified request. This may be due to preservation issues, which other scholars have commented upon.^[87]

The Mahatma Gandhi Institute (MGI) in Mauritius houses relevant records to Indian immigration to the island, however here too, documents are not directly searchable. Like the National Archives of Mauritius, a digitization pro­cess has been underway for years, but is not yet accessible, even upon request. There are certain administrative constraints to access the “Indian Immigrants Archive” section at the MGI which the Truth and Justice Commission has deemed “political”.^[88] For individually identifiable data, one needs permission from a descendant of the immigrant one wishes to investigate, which in practice limits possible enquiries to persons of the relevant heritage, and only by refer­ence to their own ancestor.^[89]

The Truth and Justice Commission has called this requirement for permission “ridiculous”, for it calculates that from the nearly half-million immigrants who arrived from India, roughly a third returned without settling, while another third did not survive the indenture experience, thus not leaving descendants.^[90] If these estimates are correct, and the MGI's policy does not change, the personal his­tory of the majority of Indian immigrants will remained locked away and fall into neglect. While the frustration as articulated by the Truth and Justice Commission is understandable, the MGI's stance is based on relevant concerns that cannot be easily dismissed.

During a visit, staff at the MGI explained to the author of this work the pri­vate nature of the data available, which includes information such as caste and occupation of the arriving immigrants. As set out above, race consciousness is an important part of identity construction in Mauritius. On a further level, within the Indian diaspora, this extends to caste. Chapter 5 discusses how “loss of caste” was often part of the process of emigrating, and it would not be unusual for this to become officialized in the records, whether by purposeful misstatement of the immigrant or as the result of administrative errors.

Staff at the MGI stated that descendants frequently express disappointment, even rage, at the outcome of their research if the data shows their ancestor of a different caste or background than expected. As a result, staff have experienced intimidation from enquirers, and on several occasions the Institute has even been accused of falsification of records, an accusation reportedly even perpetuated by the local media.

There is thus an element of privacy for descendants which requires sensitive han­dling. As noted before, Mauritians are not entirely accepting of all the possible aspects of their heritage. It is to be hoped that at some point Mauritians may be more comfortable with their personal histories, which will not only allow their com­mon history to be acknowledged, but also their common identity to be embraced.

1.3.2