Section: Staff Profiles

Laura Jeffery

Name
Dr Laura Jeffery
Title
Lecturer; ESRC Research Fellow
Organisation
Social Anthropology, School of Social and Political Science
University of Edinburgh
Address
1.05 58 George Square Edinburgh UK EH8 9JU
Telephone
+44 (131) 651 3860
E-Mail
Research Interests
Forced displacement,Migration studies,Refugee studies,Human rights,Indigenous Peoples,Political anthropology,Legal anthropology,Environmental anthropology,Environmental Sociology,African studies,Indian Ocean studies,Anthropology of Britain,Mauritius,Chagos islanders,Conservation and development
URL
http://www.san.ed.ac.uk/staff/jeffery_laura

On research leave until May 2015

Research Interests

  • Forced displacement, migration studies, refugee studies
  • Human rights and indigenous rights
  • Political and legal anthropology
  • Anthropology and sociology of environmental knowledge
  • Politics of conservation and development
  • Chagos islanders
  • Mauritius and Seychelles
  • Indian Ocean and African studies
  • Anthropology of Britain

Research

My research focuses on the Chagos islanders, who were forcibly removed from the Chagos Archipelago by the UK Government between 1965 and 1973 in order to make way for a US military base on Diego Garcia. My doctoral fieldwork in Mauritius and Seychelles focused on Chagossian narratives of exclusion and belonging, the politics of victimhood, changing representations of the homeland, collective identification and community mobilisation, and political and legal struggles for compensation and the right to return. My postdoctoral fieldwork in Crawley (West Sussex) focused on reformulations of 'home' and the 'homeland' in relation to strategies of migration, integration and non-integration amongst Chagossians who have moved to the UK since being granted UK citizenship in 2002.

I currently hold an ESRC Research Fellowship to explore debates between conflicting stakeholders - indigenous peoples, conservation groups, and governing bodies - about climate change, environmental conservation, sustainable development, eco-tourism, military security and the feasibility of human (re)settlement. This research takes place in the context of disputes between the UK and Mauritius about the sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago and the legality of the Chagos Marine Protected Area (MPA) unilaterally declared by the UK Government in 2010, which is being challenged by the Mauritian Government under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and by a Chagossian coalition via judicial review in the UK.

Publications

Monograph

Edited Collections

  • Jeffery, L. & J. Murison (eds.) 2011. Special Issue: Return and Onward Migration. Population, Space and Place 17, 2: 131-192.
  • Jeffery, L. & M. Candea (eds.) with Z.O. Biner & M.S. de Magalhaes. 2006. Special Issue: The Politics of Victimhood. History and Anthropology 17, 4: 287-395.

Journal Articles

  • Jeffery, L. 2013. 'We are the true guardians of the environment': human-environment relations and debates about the future of the Chagos Archipelago. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 19, 2: 300-318.
  • Jeffery, L. 2011. 'Unusual immigrants', or, Chagos islanders and their confrontations with British citizenship. Anthropology in Action 18, 2: 33-44.
  • Jeffery, L. & S. Johannessen. 2011. Reflections on the life and art of the Chagossian painter Clement Siatous. Wasafiri 26, 2: 72-77.
  • Jeffery, L. & J. Murison. 2011. Guest Editorial: The temporal, social, spatial and legal dimensions of return and onward migration. Population, Space and Place 17, 2: 131-139.
  • Jeffery, L. 2010. Forced displacement, onward migration, and reformulations of 'home' by Chagossians in Crawley, West Sussex. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 36, 7: 1099-1117.
  • Jeffery, L. 2010. Creole festivals and Afro-Creole cosmopolitanisms in Mauritius. Social Anthropology 18, 4: 425-432.
  • Jeffery, L. 2009. Chagossians refused right to return home. Anthropology Today 25, 1: 24-26.
  • Jeffery, L. 2007. How a plantation became paradise: changing representations of the homeland among displaced Chagos islanders. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 13, 4: 951-968.
  • Jeffery, L. 2006. Historical narrative and legal evidence: judging Chagossians' High Court testimonies. PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review 29, 2: 228-253.
  • Jeffery, L. & M. Candea. 2006. Introduction: The politics of victimhood. History and Anthropology 17, 4: 287-296.
  • Jeffery, L. 2006. Victims and patrons: strategic alliances and the anti-politics of victimhood among displaced Chagossians and their supporters. History and Anthropology 17, 4: 297-312.

Book Chapters

Topics interested in supervising

I welcome enquiries about supervision on a range of topics including migration and displacement, human and indigenous rights, and anthropology of environmental knowledge. Recent and current graduate research topics under my supervision include: multilingualism and mental health care in Mauritius; climate change vulnerability and adaptation capacity in Mauritius; changing weather in the North Indian Himalayas; the use of mobile technologies by refugees in Kenya; and unaccompanied asylum seeking children in Glasgow.

If you are interested in being supervised by Laura Jeffery, please see the links below for more information:

PhD In African Studies; PhD in Social Anthropology; PhD in South Asian Studies

This page was published on 28 May 2013


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