We Mark Your Memory: writings from the descendants of indenture

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.

Table of Contents:
Introduction David Dabydeen, Maria del Pilar Kaladeen and Tina K. RamnarineBiographies  The RebelKevin HoseinMother WoundsGitanjali PyndiahMama LiberiaAngelica A. OluochMy Father the TeacherPrithiraj R. DullayGandhi and the GirmityaSatendra NandanPepsi, Pie and Swimming Pools in-the-SkyCynthia KistasamyWaterloo: At Siewdass Sadhu’s Temple in the SeaAnita SethiTalanoa with my GrandmotherNoelle Nive MoaPassage from IndiaAnirood Singhindia has left usEddie Bruce-JonesChutney LoveGabrielle Jamela HoseinBrotherhood of the Boat: Fijians and Football in North America Akhtar MohammedThe HeistDeirdre Jonklaas CadiramenBucketsStella Chong SingThe Tamarind Tree: vignettes from a plantation frontier in Fiji Brij V. Lal‘I go sen’ for you’ Fawzia Muradali KaneParadise Island Priya N. HeinBuilding Walls Kama La MackerelThe Legend of Nagakanna Aneeta Sundararaj Great-grandmother, Ma Jennifer RahimHomecoming Suzanne BhaganErased Athol WilliamsFamished Eels Mary RokonadravuRights of Passage Patti-Anne AliThe Protest March that Ended Indian Indentureship in St Vincent Arnold N. ThomasSita and Jatayu Lelawattee Manoo-RahmingMemoir. Tales of the Sea: a sisterhood of the boat Gaiutra BahadurPot-bellied Sardar David Dabydeen