Joe-Ann Chavry
What are you currently researching?
My PhD project looks at how black creole women in Mauritius constitute a sense-of-self in and through online self-representation.
I am particularly interested in exploring how they imagine and negotiate their positions as political subjects in the afterlives of enslavement, all while navigating social media platformed economies.
Using semi-structured interviews with Mauritian women who advocate their “Black-creoleness” using visual modes of online self-representation, I seek to tease out how they discursively make sense of, construct and negotiate black femininity in a context where anti-black racism and patriarchy are tethered in Mauritius’s colonial history. Put simply, I am interested in how black Mauritian femininity is produced between old and new iterations of coloniality.
Why did you choose this area of study?
I am a cross-sectional individual who, for a decade, has had the chance of occupying various positions in the media, advertising, and communications industry in Mauritius. During that time, it became evident that black creole women were systematically misrepresented in the media. Like in many other places in the world, their representation was characterised by invisibility and/or hypervisibility along inferiorising tropes.
Simultaneously, I also met a number of black creole women and influencers who were using social media to express pride in their racial and gendered identity, leading me to ask myself certain questions. I wondered: if we agree that one of the principal vehicles of Black feminist politics is located in music, art, language, popular culture and so on, then, what do black Mauritian women say about themselves when they have the tools to do so? What can their creativity and imagination tell us? To what extent can those disrupt dominant colonial and patriarchal representations, and, perhaps, propose new forms of political engagement?
Grounded in feminist practice, my work draws on my own position and takes a situated approach to understand black creole Mauritian femininity as a site of subjectivation, agency and, ultimately, of life.
How will your research have a wider impact on society? Can you give some real-world examples of the impact your research will have?
Rather than rehearse existing narratives of Black politics, including Black feminism, I would like to suggest that we start to shift our focus when theorising black femininity within global coloniality. By looking at black creole Mauritian women, I therefore suggest opening up new analytical possibilities.
In that sense, my work’s contribution is at least twofold. First it incorporates so-called under/mis-represented voices, histories, communities, and political subjects within current debates in the field of media and communications. Secondly, it contributes to the development of Black/Creole politics at a time of important transformations in the Indian Ocean Worlds.
There are many more stories to tell about the complexity of black womanhood; my project offers one of them.
What have been the highlights of your research work so far?
One of the highlights of my research has been to make it through my upgrade last year.
What has been your biggest challenge so far?
One of the main challenges has been to systematically remind myself that my work matters and to hold space for hope and imagination in a world where places of refuge seem to be slowly disappearing. But, as someone reminded me recently, “hope” is something we create.
What advice would you give to prospective students on the most effective way to approach research and keep stress levels down?
I would recommend engaging with other activities on the side of doing a PhD, if one can afford to do so. Whether it is going to the gym, taking dance classes, drawing, painting, cooking etc, it is a great way to find inspiration and let one’s brain relax.
In a few words, what is the best thing about studying at LSE?
Studying at LSE means having the chance to engage with a number of academics, thought leaders, and PhDs researchers doing ground-breaking work. It is also about having access to a wide range of talks and conferences. Together, these contribute to expanding my knowledge, complexifying my thinking and extending my network.