Presentation short abstract

In Bel Ombre, Mauritius, colonial legacies, coastal tourism development, and climate risks shape classed and racialized vulnerabilities, while collective memory and local organizing generate emergent, contested forms of resilience.

Presentation long abstract

Bel Ombre, a former sugar plantation village in southwest Mauritius, has undergone profound transformation following the 1999 closure of its sugar mill and the rapid expansion of high-end coastal tourism and real-estate development since the early 2000s. Using a community-engaged and multi-disciplinary approach, this research examines how residents experience these socio-environmental changes alongside increasing exposure to climate-related events such as flooding. Drawing on participatory mapping, focus groups, and interviews, we show how collective memories of the plantation landscape continue to shape place attachment and frame residents’ perceptions of vulnerability, particularly through the politics of access to coastal spaces and decision-making. At the same time, we identify emergent, contested forms of resilience produced through collective action and self-organisation around coastal management and adaptation. We argue that vulnerability in Bel Ombre is shaped by enduring colonial pasts and presents through classed and racialized relations of access, while these same historical memories foster the conditions for politicized, community-driven resilience to take shape.