Many people in Seychelles, 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean, associate Dr Odile De Comarmond with education, as the former teacher who was the principal secretary for education until 2022, spent 44 years in the education profession.
However, De Comarmond, who holds a PhD, has a love affair with history. The educator and historian started her career teaching small children, working in government education management, and spent six years in Moscow, Russia, specialising in history, a passion that led her to write a book, "Slavery Sites of Seychelles," which was published in May this year.
This was a work of monumental effort as compiling some of the islands' slavery sites took 23 years to complete. African slaves were brought to Seychelles by both French and English colonial masters, before the abolition of the slave trade and system in 1835.
De Comarmond, who has a passion for the history of Africa, worked closely with Colette Gillieaux for the realisation of the book.
SNA met with De Comarmond to learn more about the need for the book and her plans for future history related projects.
SNA: Why such a book?
ODC: Although Seychelles has lived through 65 years of slavery before the abolition in 1835, very little evidence remains on slavery in Seychelles. Mostly, archives and documents were available in the form of censuses or letters written by government officials. But most of that does not give a true picture of the living conditions in those days. The population, in general, also buried this part of our history and did not even want to talk about it until the last decade or so. UNESCO initiated the slavery project in the Indian Ocean in 2001. First, it was in the form of the slave route project, and then the collection of memories from slave descendants was added. Later, in 2006, the project on sites related to slavery in the Indian Ocean started. So, I was given the responsibility of working on this as I coordinated the other slavery projects. Slavery as a subject has been one of my passions since I studied the History of Africa during my first-degree studies. UNESCO allowed me to pursue this further.
SNA: What is the book about?
ODC: The book is about the Seychelles' slavery sites. This first edition covers 18 sites located on Mahe, Silhouette, La Digue, Marianne, and Grand Soeur. Many of the sites are located high in the hills on the islands mentioned, and each has a different story to tell.
SNA: Tell us about the research work and how long it took to complete the book.
ODC: The research started in 2001 and a first draft of the book was produced in 2007, however, the work was put aside during the years of my studies. Upon my return my new responsibilities left me very little time to re-engage in the project. It was only after my retirement that I devoted time to complete the book.
SNA: Why dedicate the book to the late Archbishop Chang Him? Was he involved in any way in this project?
ODC: Bishop Chang-Him was also working on a project that connected to mine. We discussed very often what came out of the testimonies and he was mainly interested in the effects of slavery on families in Seychelles. He also accompanied us to Venn's Town and the attached cemetery. But the dedication is not only for that. I went through a lot of personal problems during the course of the research. The Bishop became this source of encouragement and his constant counsel is what pushed me to get to the end.
SNA: What are the most important facts in the book?
ODC: There are many important facts that emerged, even if we could not tell all the stories in this publication, for example, facts on a number of slaves for the landowners and the huge land concessions that were allocated to them - the location of some of these sites that many people did not know.
SNA: Was there anything that shocked you when working on the book?
ODC: I must say some of the harsh punishments of slaves in Seychelles really shocked me - especially the atrocities that happened at the Ros Kriminel, where slaves were murdered [as punishment].
SNA: What information from the book do you think we Seychellois must know more about?
ODC: Many history books that have been published concerning slavery in Seychelles tend to portray slavery in Seychelles as not too harsh. They would say that the treatment of slaves in Seychelles was not as bad as in other parts of the world. However, the information that we have gathered shows a different story. Slaves in Seychelles were very badly treated, probably worse than a lot of places.
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SNA: What conclusion did you reach? Must we start thinking of embracing and accepting our slavery heritage to become better humans?
ODC: I wanted to highlight a few things in my conclusion: it is important to know our past, our heritage, and our culture. This will allow us to better understand the qualities that make us human and to value each other as individuals. Reflecting on what happened in the past will help us to build a more desirable future with no racial discrimination. We need to avoid a similar situation from recurring. The importance of instilling human values and knowledge of our cultural heritage in our children from a very young age. This will help them to build their identity as Seychellois. And finally, we need more efforts for the conservation of our historical sites and artifacts.
SNA: Are there plans for a second edition of the book?
ODC: We will explore a number of other sites in the second edition, and people are coming forward with new information on new sites. This is encouraging, and I hope younger Seychellois historians will soon pursue the research further.
