The Living Archive
Everything else on this site can be sourced from a document. This part cannot, because it is made of people: their voices, their names, their family lines, their work. A diaspora that records itself survives itself. So here is the workshop, the forms and the guides, waiting for real Seselwa to fill them.
The Living Archive is where the diaspora writes itself down before the memory fades. It is a pipeline, not a performance: a proper oral-history project with consent forms and transcripts, a guide to where Seychellois names came from, a starter kit for tracing your own family, and free, opt-in registers of diaspora businesses and skills. We build the frame honestly and let real Seselwa fill it.
- The oral-history project follows the Oral History Association's standard for consent and preservation [ORAL HISTORY ASSN]
- Seychelles has no indigenous population, so every family name arrived by ship: French, African, Malagasy, Indian, Chinese, British [WIKIPEDIA]
- Civil registration covering the whole country began in 1893; earlier lineages run through Roman Catholic parish registers [FAMILYSEARCH]
- The National Archives holds the civil-status indexes; family-history research is by appointment for a fee [NAT. ARCHIVES]
The Oral History Project
Record an elder before the stories go. A consent form, a recording workflow and a transcript template, all free to download and built to the discipline's standard.
Open →Where our names came from
A melting-pot nation wears melting-pot names. How French, African, Malagasy, Indian, Chinese and British roots became Seychellois surnames, and how to research your own honestly.
Open →The genealogy starter kit
Tracing Seselwa ancestry, written properly for once: the National Archives, civil status, the parish registers, FamilySearch, ANOM in France and Kew in England.
Open →Business and skills registers
Free, opt-in, never pay-to-play. A directory of Seselwa-owned businesses worldwide and a register of professionals willing to help Seychelles. Open for submissions now.
Open →- Oral History Association. Principles and Best Practices for Oral History. 2018. original · archived accessed 2026-07-15The discipline's standard for informed consent, recording ethics, transcription and preservation. Our consent form and workflow are built to it.
- Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Seychellois Creole people. 2026. original · archived accessed 2026-07-15On the mixed origins of the Seychellois: enslaved East Africans and Malagasy, French settlers, Indian and Chinese arrivals, and the surnames each left.
- FamilySearch (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). Seychelles Genealogy (research wiki). original · archived accessed 2026-07-15The practical guide to Seychelles records: civil registration from 1893, Roman Catholic parish registers, cemetery registers from 1903, and where each is held. Some collections need a subscription or a FamilySearch centre.
- Seychelles National Archives / FamilySearch archives guidance. Seychelles National Archives. original · archived accessed 2026-07-15The national repository. Civil-status indexes are consulted here; family-history research runs by appointment on stated days for a fee. Individual certificates are ordered from the Civil Status office, not the archives.
Cite this page
This page is a stable reference. Its URL will not change, its content is reviewed on a stated cycle, and our original text is licensed CC BY 4.0, so you may quote and reuse it with attribution. Every source above carries a live link and an archived copy.
Seychelles Abroad. (2026, July 15). The Living Archive. https://seychellesabroad.org/archive/“The Living Archive.” Seychelles Abroad, 15 July 2026, seychellesabroad.org/archive/.Seychelles Abroad. “The Living Archive.” Last reviewed July 15, 2026. https://seychellesabroad.org/archive/.