This book covers various forms of the production of girmitiya culture and literature. One of the main objectives is to conceptualize the idea of girmitya, girmitology, and girmitiya literature, culture, history, and identity in both colonial and postcolonial contexts. This book aims to document the history, experiences, culture, assimilation, and identity of girmitiya community. It also critically analyses the articulation, projection, and production of their experiences of migration and being immigrant, their narratives, tradition, culture, religion, and memory. It also explores how this labour community formulated into a diaspora community and reconnected/created the home (land) and continues to do so in the wake of globalization and Information and Communication Technology (ICT). This book is an attempt to bring the intriguing neglected diverse historical heritage of colonial labour migration and their narratives into the mainstream scholarly debates and discussions in the humanities and the social sciences through the trans- and interdisciplinary perspectives. This book assesses the routes of migration of old diaspora, and it explains the nuances of cultural change among the generations. Although, they have migrated centuries back, absorbed and assimilated, and got citizenships of respective countries of destinations but still their longing for roots, culture, identities, “home”, and the constant struggle is to retain connections with their homeland depicted in their cultural practices, arts, music, songs, folklore and literary manifestations.
Author(s): Neha Singh, Sajaudeen Chapparban
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 268
City: Singapore
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Figures
List of Tables
1 Literature of Girmitiya: History, Culture, and Identity
Introduction
Part I: Language, Literature, and Identity
Part II: Culture, Music, and Songs
Part III: Migration and History
Part I Language, Literature, and Identity
2 Language, Literature and Cultural Identity: A Narrative from the Malaysian Tamil Diaspora
Introduction
Theoretical Outline
Formation of Indian/Tamil Diaspora in Malaysia
The Advent of Tamil Language and Culture in Malaysia
Case Study: 01—The Malaysian Movement for Tamil Culture
Case Study: 02—The Tamil Literary Society of Malaysia
Case Study: 03—Tamil Foundation
Hindu Temples and the Formation of Tamil Cultural Identity in Malaysia
Role of Tamil Mass Media in the Promotion of the Tamil Language
Construction of Tamil Cultural Identity Through Transnationalism of the Malaysian Tamil Diaspora
Case Study: 04—The International Movement for Tamil Culture (IMTC)
Conclusion
References
3 Poetics of the Crossing: Rerouting Identity in Indian Indenture
Historical Background
The Concept of Kala Pani and Fragmentation of Identity
The Spatial Trope on the Ships
The Voyage as a Leveller of Social Hierarchy
Reconstitution of Identity on Board the Ships
Gendering on the Ships
Medical Conditions on Board the Ship
References
4 Unutterable Sufferings of Girmitiyas in Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies
References
5 A Critical Reflection on Imperialism, Nostalgia and Traumatic Experiences in Totaram Sanadhya’s My Twenty-One Years in the Fiji Islands
Introduction
Story of Kunti: Physical, Mental, and Sexual Assaults
Story of Narayani: Physical, Mental, and Sexual Assaults
Conclusion
References
Part II Culture, Music, and Songs
6 Tracing the Girmitiya Consciousness in Bhojpuri Folkloric Songs: A Study of Three Bhojpuri Video Songs
Introduction
Sampling
Calcutta Se Chootal Jahaaj
Girmitiya Kantraki
Fiji Bidesia
Methodology
Delimiting the Borders of Girmitiya Consciousness in the Songs
The Passage In-Between of the Girmitiya: Tropes of Cultural Imagination
Transformation of Girmitiya Consciousness in the Songs’ Visuals and Languages
Conclusion
References
7 The Poetics of Unsung Chutney Singer Lakhan Karriah of Trinidad
Introduction
Poetics in Song Lyrics
Ethnic Literary Theory
Lakhan Karriah
Literature Review
Methodology
Theoretical Framework
“Doh Doh Sundar Popo”
Conclusion
Bibliography
8 Preservation of Cultural Heritage: A Case Study of Asians in Mauritius
Presence of Indians in Mauritius
Socio-Economic Development/Evolution of Asians in Mauritius
The Concept of Culture and Heritage
Heritage Preservation in Mauritius
Preserving the Cultural Heritage of Asians in Mauritius
References
9 Relocating Cultural Identity: Pattern and Conditions of Indian Diaspora in Fiji
Labor Emigration from India
Pattern of Migration
The Major Trend of International Migration from India, 1830–2011
Migration of Indentured Labor
Indentured Labor System Pathway
Kangani and Maistry Migration
System Under Kangani
Nature and Characteristics of Kangani System
Maistry System
Free Migration
Fiji: History and Population
Accommodation and Ration
Coolie Lines
The Working Conditions of Indian Laborers in Fiji
Wages
Working Conditions of Women Laborers
Picture-Violence Against Women by the Overseers
Summary
Bibliography
10 Vivid Girmitiya Sacraments and Ganga Talao
Introduction
Girmitiyas in Mauritius a Transnational Context
Literature Review
Spiritual and Symbolic Significance of Ganga
The Legend Is Associated with the River Ganga in India
The Symbolic Interpretation of the Legend
Ganga as a Symbolic Representative of Knowledge of Vedas
Significance of Ganga Jal in Hinduism
Ganga and Varanasi
Sacred Hindu Rituals Performed at the River Ganga
Ganga Talao in Mauritius
Girmitiyas and Establishment of Ganga Talao
Sacred Rituals Performed at Ganga Talao
Ganga Talao as Sacred Complex
Conclusion
References
Part III Migration and History
11 Girmit as a Global Labour Regime: Essentials, Expansion and Exceptions
Need for the New Labourers
Indentured Labour Regime: Making of the Girmitiya World
Ideological Debates and Dilemmas
Regulations of the System
Essentials of Indenture
Labour Mobilisation
Wage Payments
Freedom of Mobility
Indenture and Capitalist Development
Consequences of Girmit Regime
Creation of Plural Societies
Celebration of Girmitiyas?
Transformations of Labour Regime and the Labourers
Conclusions
12 ‘Convicts’ as the Indentured Labour: Contribution of Indians to the Development in Southeast Asia
Introduction
Genesis of ‘Convicts’ as Indentured Labour
Origins and Transportation of ‘Convicts’ from Colonial India
Strait Settlements of ‘Convicts’ as Indentured Labour
Employment of ‘Convicts’ Indentured Labourers in Southeast Asia
Contribution of Indian Convicts to the Development in the Southeast Asia
Conclusion
References
13 The Girmityas and Power Politics: A Genealogical Analysis of Colonial Fiji
References
14 Indentured Labour Migration from Bombay Presidency: A Study of Marathi-Speaking Community in Mauritius
References
Index
