The Chagos Research Initiative (CRI) is a multimedia documentary and art project about and for the Chagossian community. They collect, document, develop, and share research that aims to reclaim and aid in the fight for justice for the Chagossian diaspora who seek self-determination.
The British government, in order to build a U.S. Naval base, forcibly displaced the Chagossians from their homeland and, as part of ongoing political strategies, created a fiction that a permanent population never existed there. As a stateless nation without an official national archive, the physical, photographic, and material evidence of their heritage is dispersed and largely unobtainable.
Beginning from testimonials and evidence offered by the community, the project maneuvers through this fiction, reassembling and sharing material in order to recover Chagossian history and heritage. Further records were obtained from a wide variety of sources such as Wikileaks; The Imperial War Museum, London; The Seabee Museum, California; individuals and retired U.S. Navy Seabees. Through collaboration, the initiative brings these dispersed resources together, until now inaccessible to Chagossians, and helps build a narrative and celebration of heritage.
The Chagos Research Initiative was founded by Paula Naughton in partnership with The Chagos Refugees Group. It is dedicated to the displaced Chagossians and all those who have helped tell their story.
