Healthcare inequality and reticence in the Mascarenes. The contribution of historical archaeology

This chapter examines a gender dimension within the labor diaspora healthcare in Mauritius and, to some extent, Reunion. The archaeological research conducted in the last decade shows how public health management developed during the slavery and indenture periods of European colonialism in the Indian Ocean World, often in relation to emerging epidemic disease outbreaks. The development of health management is perceived through the exploration of enslaved and indentured laborers’ cemeteries. Osteological data were further combined or coalesced with architectural and spatial organization features of other crucial sites used for treating the sick and dead, such as quarantine stations and hospitals, investigated on both main islands of the Mascarenes.