Beyond Indenture
Agency and Resistance in the Colonial South Asian Diaspora

Examines the lives of indentured Indians who fought against the odds to build new lives overseas following the expiration of their contracts.

Crispin Bates (Edited by)

9781009339797, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 4 July 2024

412 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 3 cm, 0.77 kg

'Beyond Indenture brings together complex tales of agency and resistance by the globally migrant labour force since the days of colonial empires. Instead of focusing on the well-known labour exploitation by officials, planters, and other types of employers, this work explores the stories of workers. It covers a wide range of issues, from resistance to derogatory conditions of employment, including the cases of poisoning of employers of domestic servants. Once a subject of crime thrillers, this has become a domain of exploration by historians. It highlights issues of remigration, a fascinating effort of workers to improve their living conditions. The point of domestic intimacy, new forms of families in plantations, caste mobility and stories of Eurasian labourers add a new dimension to the complex historiography of indentured workers. Finally, the book covers the complex post-colonial political developments in societies with complex demographic mosaics due to indentured workers. As an editor, Crispin Bates weaves a synthetic introduction that captures the huge complexities of indentured migration from its inception to its post-colonial legacies and that demonstrates his mastery over this subaltern narrative. The book is a must-read for all those engaged in studying labour history.' Subho Basu, McGill University

Beyond Indenture brings together original essays by a mix of experienced and upcoming scholars. They reflect, as far as possible, the viewpoints and voices of indentured Indians who exercised agency, resisted and manipulated the colonial labour system to their advantage, and went on to build new lives for themselves overseas following the expiry of their contracts. Some remigrated to other colonies to earn a better wage and escape from debt and other burdens. Among those who chose to remain, women played a prominent role in the struggle for rights, freedom and opportunities, achieving them in ways which often defied or redefined South Asian customs and traditions. Alongside the migrant labourers, 'passenger Indians' made their way to the sugar, tea and rubber colonies, and became clerks, teachers and shopkeepers. After independence, the Indian communities overseas faced newer problems, not least of which were discrimination and marginalisation. Some were forced to return home. Others built upon the experience of struggles in the colonial era to collectively mobilise. Another theme explored is that of the broad alliances of diasporic Indians and Pakistani and Bangladeshi migrants who have been recently enabled by the internet to connect with each other and to reconnect with the countries from which they originated.

Introduction Crispin Bates
Part I. Agency and Resistance: 1. Negotiating Power in Colonial Natal: Indentured Migrants in Natal, 1860–1911 Goolam Vahed
2. Stewed Plums, Baked Porridge and Flavoured Tea: Poisoning by Indian Domestic Servants in Colonial Natal Prinisha Badassy
3. Labour Resistance in Indenture Plantations in the Assam Valley Rana Pratap Behal
4. A Forgotten Narrative of the Satyagraha Campaign: The Treatment of Prisoners between 1907 and 1914 Kalpana Hiralal
5. Toilers across the Seas: Racial Discrimination and Political Assertion among Sikhs in Canada Chhanda Chatterjee
Part II. Remigration: 6. The Remigration of Hindostanis from Surinam to India, 1878–1921 Chan E. S. Choenni
7. Not So Anchored: The Remigration of Indians within the Caribbean Region Lomarsh Roopnarine
8. On the Move: Remigration in the Indian Ocean, 1850–1906 Yoshina Hurgobin
Part III. Gender and Family: 9. Intimate Lives on Rubber Plantations: The Textures of Indian Coolie Relations in British Malaya Arunima Datta
10. Labouring under the Law: Exploring the Agency of Indian Women under Indenture in Colonial Natal, 1860–1911 Nafisa Essop Sheik
11. Gujarati 'Passenger Indians' in the Eastern Cape since 1900: Business, Mobility, Caste and Community Sheetal Bhoola
12. The Eurasian Female Workforce and Imperial Britain: Harnessing Domestic Labour by People of Mixed Racial Descent Rochelle Almeida
Part IV. Legacies: 13. After the Long March: Colonial-Era 'Relief ' for Burma Indian Evacuees in Visakhapatnam District, 1942–1948 Emma C. Meyer
14. Opposing the Group Areas Act and Resisting Forced Displacement in Durban, South Africa Brij Maharaj
15. Indo-Fijians: From Agency to Abjection Brij V. Lal
16. New and Old Diasporas of South–South Asia: Sri Lanka and Cyber-Nationalism in Malaysia Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake.

Subject Areas: Asian history [HBJF]