Kuli Migrants, Indian Diplomacy
Caste, Class and Indenture Abroad, 1914-67
Book •
Coolie Migrants, Indian Diplomacy: Caste, Class and Indenture Abroad, 1914-67 recovers the histories and legacies of those ‘coolie’ migrants and presents a new paradigm for the diplomatic history of independent India, going beyond high politics to explore how indenture, emigration, and international relations became entangled.
Indian notions of the international realm as a sanctified space were shaped by migrant journeys, a space of anxiety in which to negotiate the ‘coolie stain’ on the country’s reputation.
Discourse was defined by intersections of caste, class, race and gender and framed the migrant worker as the quintessential ‘other’ of Indian diplomacy.
Drawing on rich, multi-archival analysis spanning the vast geographies of labor migration, Kalathmika Natarajan pieces together the stories of quarantine camps en route to Ceylon; cultural and educational missions in the Caribbean; discretionary passport policies in India; and the mediation of immigrant life in Britain.
Indian notions of the international realm as a sanctified space were shaped by migrant journeys, a space of anxiety in which to negotiate the ‘coolie stain’ on the country’s reputation.
Discourse was defined by intersections of caste, class, race and gender and framed the migrant worker as the quintessential ‘other’ of Indian diplomacy.
Drawing on rich, multi-archival analysis spanning the vast geographies of labor migration, Kalathmika Natarajan pieces together the stories of quarantine camps en route to Ceylon; cultural and educational missions in the Caribbean; discretionary passport policies in India; and the mediation of immigrant life in Britain.
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Stuti Roy
Kalathmika Natarajan, "Coolie Migrants, Indian Diplomacy: Caste, Class and Indenture Abroad, 1914-67" (Oxford UP, 2026)
