Inside Indian Indenture

A South African Story, 1860-1914 Many were filled with hopes as high as Mahjoub's stars as they crossed the Indian Ocean, making their way from India to Durban in southern Africa in the late 1800s. But dreams of a better life and the opportunity to save money and return to the village as 'success stories' were not to be for many who returned 'home' with less than they had started out with, and found that home was no longer the place they had left. Neither were they the same people. Caste had been transgressed, parents had died and spaces for reintegration closed as colonialism tightened its grip. Home for these wandering exiles was no more. Inside Indian Indenture is a timely and monumental work which makes a significant contribution to our understanding of South African Indian history. It tells a story about the many beginnings and multiple journeys that made up the indentured experience. The authors seek to trespass directly into the lives of the indentured themselves. They explore the terrain of the everyday by focusing on religious and cultural expressions, leisure activities, power relations on the plantations, the weapons of resistance and forms of collaboration that were developed in conflicts with the colonial overlords. Fascinating accounts brimming with desire, skulduggery and tender mercies, as much as with oppression and exploitation, show that the indentured were as much agents as they were victims and silent witnesses.

Preface
Acknowledgements

1. Shivas dance
2. The paglaa samundar (mad ocean)
3. From the Raj to Raju
4. Master Coolie arrives
5. The interpreters of indenture
6. Inside the world of Uriah Heep and Jabez Balfour
7. Esperanza: A place of hope?
8. Bhen Choodh and the politics of ploys
9. Cast(e) on an African stage
10. Family matters
11. When the coolies made Christmas
12. From heathens to Hindus
13. Coolies with Bibles
14. Bdshh Pr meets Soofie Saheb
15. The many faces of leisure and pleasure: From China to Ganja
16. The bodysnatchers (18991902)
17. The Virgin Mary and the three pound cross
18. Drawing blood from a stone
19. Resistance goes underground
20. The moral persuaders?
21. Africa calling

Endnotes
Glossary
References
Index

Ashwin Desai holds a Masters degree from Rhodes University and a doctorate from Michigan State University. He is currently Associate Professor of Sociology at Rhodes University. One of South Africa’s foremost social commentators, Desai’s previous books include (amongst others) We are the poors: Community struggles in post-apartheid South Africa and Monty Naicker: Between Reason and Treason.

Goolam Vahed is Associate Professor in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He holds a PhD in History from Indiana University (Bloomington, USA) and has taught widely in the fields of African, American and World history. His research interests include transnational history, religion, culture and ethnicity, as well as sprort and history. His previous books include Blacks in Whites: a Century of Cricket Struggles in KwaZulu-Natal (with A. Desai, V.Padayachee and K. Reddy) and Dear Ahmedbhai, Dear Zuleikhabehn: the Letters of Zuleikha Mayat and Ahmed Kathrada (compiled with T.Waetjen).