"[I]n association with Commonwealth Writers"--Title page verso Includes bibliographical references.
Contents:
Pot-bellied Sardar / David Dabydeen. The rebel / Kevin Jared Hosein -- Mother wounds / Gitan Djeli -- Mama Liberia / Angelica A. Oluoch -- My father the teacher / Prithiraj R. Dullay -- Gandhi and the Girmitya / Satendra Nandan -- Pepsi, pie and swiming pools in-the-sky / Cynthia Kistasamy -- Escape from El Dorado: a bittersweet journey through my Guyanese history / Anita Sethi -- Talanoa with my grandmother / Noelle Nive Moa -- Passage from India / Anirood Singh -- india has left us / Eddie Bruce-Jones -- Chutney love / Gabriella Jamela Hosein -- Brotherhood of the boat: Fijians and football in North America / Akhtar Mohammed -- The heist / Deirdre Jonklaas Cadiramen -- Buckets / Stella Chong Sing -- The tamarind tree / Brij V. Lal -- 'I go sen' for you' / Fawzia Muradali Kane -- Paradise island / Priya N. Hein -- Building walls / Kama La Mackerel -- The legend of Nagakanna / Aneeta Sundararaj -- Great-grandmother, Ma / Jennifer Rahim -- Homecoming / Suzanne Bhagan -- Erased / Athol Williams -- Famished eels / Mary Rokonadravu -- Rights of passage / Patti-Anne Ali -- The protest march that ended Indian indentureship in St Vincent / Arnold N. Thomas -- Sita and Jatayu / Lelawattee Manoo-Rahming -- Tales of the sea / Gaiutra Bahadur -- Pot-bellied Sardar / David Dabydeen.
Summary:
"The abolition of slavery was the catalyst for the arrival of the first Indian indentured labourers into the sugar colonies of Mauritius (1834), Guyana (1838) and Trinidad (1845), followed some years later by the inception of the system in South Africa (1860) and Fiji (1879). By the time indenture was abolished in the British Empire (1917-20), over one million Indians had been contracted, the overwhelming majority of whom never returned to India. Today, an Indian indentured labour diaspora is to be found in Commonwealth countries including Belize, Kenya, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and the Seychelles. Indenture, whereby individuals entered, or were coerced, into an agreement to work in a colony in return for a fixed period of labour, was open to abuse from recruitment to plantation. Hidden within this little-known system of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Indian migration under the British Empire are hitherto neglected stories of workers who were both exploited and unfree. These include indentured histories from Madeira to the Caribbean, from West Africa to the Caribbean, and from China to the Caribbean, Mauritius and South Africa. To mark the centenary of the abolition of the system in the British Empire (2017-20) this volume brings together, for the first time, new writing from across the Commonwealth. It is a unique attempt to explore, through the medium of poetry and prose, the indentured heritage of the twenty-first century."--Back cover
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.