4th issue of Seychelles Research Journal now available online |08 August 2020

The fourth issue of Seychelles Research Journal is now online and can be read at www.seychellesresearchjournal.com

How does the Creole language cope with the new linguistic demands of Covid-19? The answer – explored in one of the articles in the latest edition of Seychelles Research Journal – is ‘remarkably well’. Faced with the challenge of new words and concepts, the language has proved to be exceptionally robust.

The pandemic is also at the heart of two other articles in this issue. In one of these, new applications of digital technology to the creative arts are seen as a way of boosting the economy. The author has completed work in other small island states and believes that Seychelles is well-placed to do the same. At a time when the diversification of the economy is a key issue this provides useful and relevant ideas.

A third article flags the importance of food security as a factor in world policy-making. Covid-19 has shown that global supply chains are by no means as secure as we previously assumed. One response to this, for Seychelles, is that more food should be produced within our own islands.

Other features in this issue look at questions of impartiality among judges; ways to embed the principle of non-violence in disciplining children, in Seychelles and elsewhere; and an interesting comparison of population trends in neighbouring Mauritius.

Environmental research is always high on our agenda and so we have included two articles on this theme, one which shows how willing tourists are to offset the carbon use they generate, and the other based on a survey to show community perceptions of climate change vulnerability.

This is the fourth issue of the journal – published by the University of Seychelles – and the editors are delighted that there is a steady flow of submissions demonstrating new research. What is especially encouraging is that

these come not only from within Seychelles but also from researchers overseas who take an active interest in our small island state. An international network is evolving and the university is at the heart of this.

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