Offers a preliminary discussion of factors challenging the management of intangible cultural heritage among black African communities in Zanzibar, Mauritius and Seychelles. These islands are part of an overlapping cultural and economic zone influenced by a long history of slavery and colonial rule, a situation that has produced inequalities and underdevelopment. In all of them, heritage management is seriously under-financed and under-resourced. African descendant heritage is given little attention and this continues to erode identity and sense of belonging to the nation. In Zanzibar tensions between majority and minority political parties affect heritage initiatives on the island. In Mauritius, the need to diversify the economy and tourism sector is encouraging the commercialisation of heritage and the homogenisation of Creole identity. In Seychelles, the legacy of socialist rule affects the conceptualisation and management of heritage, discouraging managers from exploring the islands wide range of intangible heritages. 93pp, SENEGAL. CODESRIA.

Traces the complex and contradictory social relations that developed on Mauritius under French colonial rule, paying particular attention to questions of subjectivity and agency. Juxtaposes extensive analysis of court records with examinations of the logs of slave ships and of colonial correspondence and travel accounts to offer a close reading of life on the island, power relations, colonialism, and the process of cultural creolization. Index, bib, notes, b/w illus, 341pp, USA. DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

Structured into a series of letters, this survey describes the island's geography and also provides a chilling picture of the cruelties of plantation life and slavery. BNS, map, ill, bib, index, 256pp, UK. SIGNAL BOOKS LTD, 1902669495

A detailed analysis of the main aspects of the Mauritian economy including microeconomic topics, macroeconomic policy questions and external trade and interna-tional issues. BNS, 65 tables, 16 b/w figs, 256pp, UK. PALGRAVE, 0333699653

A Retrospective Study 1960-1993. NEW ZEALAND/UK. JAMES CURREY PUBLISHERS, 0852551606

In this wide-ranging social and economic history of the island of Mauritius, from French colonization in 1721 to the beginnings of modern political life in the colony in the mid-1930s, Richard Allen brings out the importance of domestic capital formation, particularly in the sugar industry. He describes the changing relationship between different elements in the society - slave, free and maroon, and East Indian indentured populations - and shows how these were conditioned by demographic changes, world markets and local institutions. 241pp, UK. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

En route for the Indies, a ship endured a terrible storm and dropped anchor in Port Louis, Mauritius. On board was the 20 year-old poet Charles Baudelaire. Little is known of what he did there; but this is the extensively researched record of what can be established of his time in the Indian Ocean. He made the acquaintance of M. Autar de Bragard, to whose wife he dedicated his famous sonnet 'A une damme créole'. He also spent 45 days at Bourbon (now La Réunion). The Mascareignes islands inspired 'A une Malabaraise' whilst 'Parfum exotique', 'Correspondances', and 'La vie antérieure' are amongst the masterpieces evoking the islands. 158pp, MAURITIUS. IN FRENCH. EDITIONS DE L'OCEAN INDIEN.

Unique synthesis of imperial and naval/military history, reveals the depths of colonial involvement in the Second World War and the role of colonies in British strate-gic planning. In the century of total war, the British Empire was fully mobilized. The Mauritian home front became regimented, troops were recruited for service over-seas, and became important in the Madagascar mutiny. It was also an important base for the fleet, for SOE operations and intelligence gathering. 256pp, UK. PALGRAVE, 0333968409