3 Review(s)

This book is about a ‘Small Island’, namely Mauritius in the southwestern Indian Ocean. It is also about a ‘Large Ocean’, the Indian Ocean world – its peoples, histories and cultures. It casts down a light on the life of an island through what is known not only about the island itself, but also through what is known about the wider Indian Ocean world. It is also about the Indian Ocean world in that it focuses on an island, which, in many senses and dimensions, is not only a model of, but in some respects also a model for wider developments and features of relevance to the Indian Ocean world as a?whole. Chapter one provides some basic background information, on first the island itself, and secondly, on the ocean in question. This introductory chapter concludes with some remarks on ‘Indian Ocean Studies’ more generally and on the methodological question of how to study an ocean. Chapter two deals with the issue of ‘islandness’, and looks closer at the overall world of Indian Ocean islands. Chapter three investigates ‘piracy’ in the South-Western Indian Ocean from around 1680 to 1750, while Chapter four addresses the issue of epidemic diseases that have violently influenced the history of Mauritius from the start of its settlement. Chapter five looks at demographic issues and at concomitant questions of identity politics in Mauritius today. Chapter six discusses Mauritius’s role as a maritime hub over the three centuries of its existence, also addressing present-day, non-maritime manifestations of the island as a hub. Chapter seven investigates the significance of tourism for Mauritians not only in economic, but also in socio-cultural concerns. Chapter eight concludes this book with a view on the politics of cultural heritage, including the Séga dance or world-heritage sites remembering African slavery and Indian indentured labour in post-colonial Mauritius.