Inside Indian Indenture

Preface
Acknowledgements

1. Shiva’s 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. Bâdshâh Pîr meets Soofie Saheb
15. The many faces of leisure and pleasure: From China to Ganja
16. The bodysnatchers (1899–1902)
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.

“Inspired research. Beautifully written. A captivating narrative.”
- Professor Fatima Meer, Anti-apartheid and Human Rights Activist

“Bold and imaginative writing characterised by what can only be called outstanding research.”
- Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie, Professor of History, University of the Western Cape

“A very valuable contribution to the historiography of South Africa, that will be a reference for many years to come.”
- Bill Freund, Professor Emeritus, University of Kwa-Zulu Natal

“Eloquent, informative, sensitive and moving, Inside Indian Indenture is an unparalleled exploration of a world now vanished beyond recall: the world of Indian indenture in all its gruesome and maddening complexity. This book is an achievement of singular importance unlikely to be surpassed in our time, and destined to find a permanent place in the scholarship on the subject.”
- Brij V Lal, Professor of Pacific and Asian History, Australian National University and General Editor of The Enclyclopedia of the Indian Diaspora

“The story of the global migration of Indian indentured labour is one of the most poignant and central narratives of the nineteenth century. That story, the subject of many new works, has never been told better than by Goolam Vahed and Ashwin Desai in Inside Indian Indenture . Focusing on South Africa, Vahed and Desai go far beneath the surface to reveal not only the brutalities of indenture but also the near heroic lives of those who made the passage from India and their descendants. Drawing on an unusually wide and impressive array of sources, this book is remarkable for the depth of its insights, the empathy with which it casts an eye on indentured laborers, and the richness of its historiographic contribution.”
- Vinay Lal, Professor of History, Delhi University & University of California, Los Angeles

“These pages are replete with engaging story after engaging story of disillusionment and despair, of complicity and stark survival, but also of resistance, agency and triumph. The narratives are rendered in the most compelling prose, indisputably displaying how ideas and feelings meld in passionate scholarship.”
- Devarakshanam Govinden, Senior Research Associate, Faculty of Education, University of KwaZulu-Natal