When I started researching prisoners and exiles from French Indochina, over fifteen years ago, one of the most haunting prisoners I encountered was a young scholar named Lý Liễu. He had gone to Hong Kong to study at the age of twelve and ended up becoming involved in anti-colonial politics. Continue Reading
A community project in Penang: a graphic novella
As a previous blog explained, we have been working with the community that looks after the Dato Koyah shrine in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Penang, Malaysia. The shrine is believed to be the site of the burial of an Indian prisoner sent to Penang during the British colonial Continue Reading
Exhibition: Exiles and Prisoners from French Indochina in New Caledonia (Part 2)
This blog presents the second part of an exhibition that launched at the Amicale Vietnamienne, Nouméa, on 21 February 2024. The exhibition – presented here in the English version – explores the history of deportation and exile from French Indochina to New Caledonia, within its global context. Readers might be Continue Reading
Exhibition: Exiles and Prisoners from French Indochina in New Caledonia (Part 1)
This blog presents the first part of an exhibition that launched at the Amicale Vietnamienne, Nouméa, on 21 February 2024. The exhibition – presented here in the English version – explores the history of deportation and exile from French Indochina to New Caledonia, within its global context. Readers might be Continue Reading
A writer in the penal colony: Ivan Pavlovich Iuvachev’s diaries of Sakhalin Island
Most genealogists and archivists can only dream of finding a cache of historical detail such as is contained in the personal diaries of Ivan Pavlovich Iuvachev, a naval officer who served a term of political exile in the infamous Sakhalin penal colony between 1887 and 1895. Immediately after his arrival Continue Reading
Of Satellites and Sentiment: the descendants of Vietnamese prisoners in French Guiana
On April 18 2008, Vietnamese journalist Danh Đức was standing in the rain at the Kourou Space Centre, the European Space Agency’s spaceport in French Guiana, a territory that is, as an overseas département, still an integral part of France. Eyes heavenward, Danh Đức was eager to witness the launch Continue Reading
An Algerian Prisoner in New Caledonia Part 2: The Descendants of Abdelkader ben Cherfia
In a previous blog, An Algerian Prisoner in New Caledonia, we began the story of Abdelkader ben Cherfia. A blacksmith from Blida, Abdelkader met an untimely death as a murder victim at the hands of his wife, Peroline Langevin, in 1901. His death notwithstanding, Abdelkader ben Cherfia’s life story reflected Continue Reading
‘Cassim’: an extraordinary life – Part 2
We closed Part 1 of our blog on Cassim, with details of his penal transportation from Mauritius to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania). From there, he was transferred to Moreton Bay (modern Brisbane) and sent to the Limestone Hills (modern Ipswich) to look after government livestock. Here, we note that during Continue Reading
Chinese Prisoners on Cockatoo Island, Sydney
The small sandstone island of Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour is best known as a convict stockade which held the ‘worst’ of the convict system: former Norfolk Islanders and bushrangers are its most famous inhabitants. However, from the 1850s onwards Cockatoo Island acted primarily as a local prison for those Continue Reading
Genealogies of Enslavement and Convictism in the British Empire
In a former blog, I wrote about the enslaved girl Constance Couronne, who in 1834 with her cousin Elizabeth Verloppe was transported from the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius to the penal colony of New South Wales. The two children had been convicted of attempting to poison their mistress. Constance lived Continue Reading