Fieldwork

This research agenda is personal. Before I was born, a fortune teller told my parents that a second child, if a boy, would shine amidst the stars, bright as the sun. I arrived a girl — and was labelled "zenfan mofine," a child of misfortune, from the start. I grew up in Mauritius, in a family that did not value girls, understanding that my gender was a disappointment and that my needs shouldn't exist. I was the quiet student who never asked for help. No teacher expected much of me. None knew what I carried at home. I found the British Council library by accident, following a friend, and buried myself in its free books. Then I ranked first nationally in the Economics track of the Cambridge A-levels. I went on — through scholarships, working evenings as a receptionist and nights as a carer — to a PhD. 

Talent is everywhere; opportunity is not. A library card can change a child's trajectory. The children easiest to overlook are often carrying the most. My fieldwork is about finding them.