Two French soldiers inspect the boat that held three pirates who where captured and taken to the French warship 'Nivose', in the North Seychelles area of Indian Ocean, on April 30, 2009, as part of the EU's anti-piracy naval mission. Somali pirates are currently holding at least 16 ships and more than 250 seamen for ransom. World powers have vowed tough action against rampant piracy off Somalia coastline, which has disrupted commercial traffic in the Gulf of Aden.(Photo by PIERRE VERDY/AFP/Getty Images)

Suspected Somali pirates appear at Mombasa's court April 23, 2009, a day after they were handed over by the French navy to Kenyan authorities. 11 suspected Somali nationals apprehended a week ago by the French frigate 'Nivose' on suspicion of being pirates pleaded 'not guilty' to the charges. The French navy is among other European naval crews patrolling off the Somalia coast as part of the EU anti-piracy effort christened 'Atalanta'.(Photo by TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images)
(Please click on the images to see a larger version)

Upcoming events - A series of workshops in January and April are taking place at Chawton House, Hampshire. Further details and registration forms can be found on the project website.

Past Event - A public lecture by Richard Gifford (Lawyer, Clifford Chance LLP) entitled 'The Chagos Islanders - Do they Exist?' at the University of Southampton.Followed by a response by Dr Mark Elliott (University of Cambridge) and a discussion.
Flyer available here

A flag on a slave ship

The Indian Ocean © S Jones

The Indian Ocean

Full title: The Indian Ocean: narratives in literature and law
Duration: Launched1 July 2007, running for 36 months
Principle Investigator: Dr Stephanie Jones
Project team members: Dr David Johnson (CI); Dr Prem Poddar (Research Fellow)
Higher Education Institution: University of Southampton
Project associate: Professor Annie Janowitz
Other partnerships: Open University
Contact information: s.j.jones@soton.ac.uk
Project website: www.soton.ac.uk/indianocean/index.html

 

Project summary

This project examines how the Indian Ocean has been represented in literary and legal narratives.and aims to generate a more imaginatively aware and legally useful understanding of the modern Indian Ocean .

For more details please go to the project summary document

 

Progress and Highlights

The project held an Indian Ocean seminar series between January and June 2008. Scholars from the disciplines of english, history, geography, law, oceanography and archaeology attended. A second series of seminars will be organised for January to June 2009. Two conferences are planned in April and July 2009.

Over the past year, scholars working on the Project have consolidated new bibliographies of early-modern literary and legal narratives of the Indian Ocean, Dutch 18th century legal discourses of the Indian Ocean, and representations of the Andaman Islands in English literature from the 12th century to the present. Previously ignored or under-valued texts about Indian Ocean slaves in Southern Africa and the history of circuit courts in the Western Indian Ocean have been investigated by the Project's researchers. The Project continues to track and update its research agenda in line with the ongoing, high-profile and politically sensitive legal issues surrounding the Chagos Islands , including the ongoing exile of the Chagossians and the use of the archipelago for ‘extraordinary rendition' by the US government.