Multiple Mobilities in the Hotel Industry: a case study of the North Indian Diaspora in Mauritius

Initially the focus of this thesis was to simply analyse employment mobility in the Mauritian hotel industry. Through focus group interviews carried out across eight of the largest hotels in the country, the intra and inter-industry mobility of employees were examined. Low barriers to entry associated with qualifications, skills and experience have made this industry the first step towards a career for many. Moreover information from connections in the industry also played a significant role in the decision making process of potential employees. Unlike other studies which showed that employment in this industry is highly temporary and volatile, the case of Mauritius shows that although many had joined the industry by default, they stayed in it and made it a career. Investments in human capital, organizational cultures fostering employee commitment, social capital and network capital in the form of hotel industry-networks also contributed to the retention of employees within the same industry (although not necessarily the same hotel). However, the findings also reveal that not all employees are able to capitalise on these. Those belonging to the North Indian Diaspora are seen as experiencing low mobility both within the hotels and in the industry as a whole. Developing this further, through using interviews and an ethnographic approach, the thesis then identifies other forms of mobility which shape the daily lives of the participants and which could help explain the mobility of the Diaspora. In particular, I analyse the ‘home’-making practices of those belonging to the North Indian Diaspora. The thesis analyses the ways through which they have constructed a Hindu home away from India and how these practices influence their behaviour at work and in the wider community. Hybrid identities are identified through an examination of processes of language mixing and ‘home’-making. Regional disparities are identified between those living and working in the rural and urban regions. The findings from the second fieldwork reveal that apart from the spatial reconstruction of a ‘home’ away from home, strong ethnic social networks are actively being formed which affect the social capital level of the Diaspora in the labour market. Moreover, boundary maintainance practices such as the continued use of Bhojpuri, a dialect from India, has significantly reduced their motility. The study develops a framework for the understanding of how Diasporic members who are in the process of re-instating their identity away from home also end up marginalising themselves in the labour market

Government and SMEs in the Maldives and Mauritius

The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the role of government in the development of SMEs in the Maldives and Mauritius. Using tourism SMEs, it seeks to identify, analyse and compare strategies deployed by SMEs operating in an “enabling” and a “constrained” business environment.  An inductive approach to qualitative research is undertaken using seventeen semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders identified though a stakeholder analysis. Using multiple sources (six government officials, eight SME owner/managers, one private bank owner, one academic and one resort owner), variations and consensus in the data were identified through thematic analysis.  The Maldivian Government is less proactive in supporting its SMEs compared to the Mauritian Government. Its failure to facilitate access to finance and provide business support services has led the Maldivian SMEs to use multiple methods of bootstrapping to sustain existing businesses and/or start new ones. In contrast, despite operating in a more enabling business environment, Mauritian SMEs were found to engage in similar strategies due to lack of trust in government-led initiatives. Practical implications – Policy-makers in island economies can use the findings to inform decision making in SME development planning.  While this research adds to the sparse literature on government and SME development in island economies, it also highlights the relevance of bootstrapping for SMEs operating in economically constrained environments

A postcolonial analysis of entrepreneurship in Africa

Global measurement of entrepreneurial activity shows that entrepreneurship in Africa is growing. Similarly, research on African entrepreneurs and their entrepreneurial behaviour appear in an increasing number of scholarly articles. However we note an obvious neglect of a context sensitive approach to both the measurement of entrepreneurial activity and researching entrepreneurship in Africa. In this theoretical paper, we use postcolonial theory, and more specifically Edward Said’s idea about the misrepresentation of the Orient by the Occident, to illustrate how existing global measures of entrepreneurial activity fail to provide a real account of entrepreneurship for Africa. We then propose postcolonial theory as a useful analytical tool for researching Africa’s case. To justify this proposal, we analyse the region’s colonial history, large informal sector, heterogeneous population of entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurship and current geopolitical changes. We then use Homi Bhabha’s concept of the ‘third space’ and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s concept of subalternity to critically analyse entrepreneurship research in Africa. To end, we propose a shift towards methodologies which are more context sensitive, recognise the postcolonial setting of Africa and allow agency to emerge during fieldwork

Migrant worker well-being as a struggle for meaningful work : evidence from Bangladeshi migrants in a developing country

This article analyses the well-being of migrants in the global South for whom employment precarity has become normalized, and working and living conditions are associated with poor health, isolation, limited voice and a general lack of protection. Well-being in such contexts may be considered as a multifaceted phenomenon which manifests itself across work and other life domains to include collective sources of well-being. We also recognise the politics of working life in how precarious workers construct well-being, presenting them as engaged in a struggle for meaning in the absence of objectively meaningful work. First, we explore the objective constraints on well-being at multiple sites (personal, relational, organizational, communal) and, second, draw from a sociological perspective of meaningful work to explore worker agency in deriving subjective autonomy, recognition and dignity. Qualitative data from 41 Bangladeshi migrants in Mauritian construction, food and textile manufacturing firms showed that despite considerable challenges to personal well-being, workers engaged in informal and agentic strategies which shaped their efficacy, voice and relationships to create meaningful work. The findings reveal mechanisms underlying the construction of meaning in precarious work, showing the implications for gendered and culturally derived agency, and broadening theory on holistic and contextualized perspectives of well-being

Exploring career (im)mobilities of Kenya hoteliers in the UK

This paper serves as a useful conduit in ‘voicing’ migrants’ lived experiences in a foreign country and in particular, considers shedding some light on the impact of migration on migrants’ hotel careers. With reference to Kenyan hotel migrant workers in this study, their career development (or lack of) in the UK is examined. The traditional theory of career mobility whereby education and professional training have a strong positive impact on careers is challenged in this study. Instead we found that despite their world class industry-specific training, Kenyan workers faced multiple (im)mobilities in their workplace. Using the mobilities theory and it's dimensions of 'power' and 'emotions' we explore the lived and career experiences of these migrant workers. We examine how their skills are under-deployed and the emotional disruptions that follow.We draw attention to the changes in the politics of power of movement in foreign land. This knowledge is generated by the use of modified life history interviews with thirty-two Kenyan migrants including tenface to face and six Skype interviews conducted with participants that were still living and working in the UK. The remaining sixteenface-to-face interviews were conducted with participants who had returned to Kenya. The life history technique gives the overall picture of an individual, however, this research, focussed only on the career stage of the particpants and as such, parameters were drawn which started with their post secondary education through to their working lives as at the time of the interviews

Health and well-being of south-south migrants

The movement of workers from Bangladesh to Mauritius is exemplary of a south-south migration trajectory. Bangladesh is a low income country that relies heavily on remittance from migrant workers. Mauritius is a middle income country that has become an attractive work destination for Bangladeshi workers due to its industrial and cultural similarities. Using a qualitative exploratory method and a postcolonial sociological perspective, the paper presents findings from a study on health and well-being of Bangladeshi workers in Mauritius. The analysis shows that the discourse of health and well-being is absent in the labour migration model of both countries

An African dilemma : pastoralists, conservationists and tourists - reconciling conflicting issues in Kenya

Kenya is facing irreconcilable tensions by competing interests from conservationists, tourism developers and pastoralists. Concerns arising from the well-being of flora and, in particular, fauna by conservationists; tourists and commercial tourism; and the increasingly restricted use of traditional lands and herding animals by pastoralist indigenous communities, have populated the discourse of land use in Kenya. In this paper, we look into the varying perceptions of each group of stakeholders and seek to analyse the current narrative that gives priority to wildlife protection and the commercial exploitation of wildlife through high-end tourism development to the detriment of the rights and interests of pastoralism. As pastoral land becomes more appropriated, our analysis shows that the antagonistic relationship between conservationism, commercial tourism and pastoralism is likely to deteriorate. We therefore propose a more participatory model of tourism development that will allow pastoralist communities to have a voice in the process

The dynamics of language and ethnicity in Mauritius

The link between ethnicity and language has been well established in research but its contextual, perspectual and variable nature demands that this connection be re-examined in each attempt to understand a nation. This paper is about Mauritius, a postcolonial context where French and British colonisation has left salient features which continue to influence the dynamics around language and ethnicity in the country. By describing its demographic characteristics and its linguistic and political situation, I retrieve some of the key facets of this multi-ethnic and multi-lingual nation which evidence resistance by both the state and the populace against the established colonial languages. To compensate for the lack of appropriate theoretical framework in existing research on Mauritius, I use Homi Bhabha’s postcolonial theoretical framework to uncover the realities faced by both the state and the people of this country and the impacts these may have in the workplace

Rethinking non-traditional resistance at work : the case of the Indian Diaspora in Mauritius

Resistance at work can take many forms and this is reflected in the multiple ways it has been theorised in research. In this paper, I use postcolonial theory to analyse employee resistance in Mauritius. To do this, I deploy Homi Bhabha’s concepts of mimicry, ambivalence and hybridity to explore non-traditional forms of resistance among the Indian Diaspora working in the hotel industry. Using ethnographic research, I firstly look at its ‘home’-making practices as it is within the home that visions of community emerge (Bhabha, 1994) which could later influence behaviours at work. I argue that the Diaspora maintains connections with its ancestral roots via routine religious practices and language use while concomitantly resisting assimilation in the local context. The analysis is then extended to their workplace where further forms of non-traditional resistance are found to be enacted which are strongly influenced by the same values emerging at home