‘Only the memories and the mother wounds
Passed on for two centuries
Across continents, oceans, and generations
Which I carry in my blood
Brings us together in the present moment
Forever intertwined in the past’
Searing accounts of indentured labour told by the descendants of the laborers themselves. This anthology explores variegated stories of indentured laborers from the British colonies in the 19th century. The stories are personal and utterly poignant. Many of them stood out to me as they recalled the tales of womanhood that are sometimes omitted from this type of anthology. Slavery in The British Empire was reinvented with a new name as the workers from India were shipped off to the British colonies under indentureship. Many workers who were recruited often struggle to find their own cultural identity in a strange new land under colonialism. In most cases, it was coercion or misrepresentation that paved the way for human exploitation. They were bound by a system that was constructed against their freewill. Their distinct cultural identity was removed along with their humanity - to the masters there were simply workers toiling in the sugar plantation to fill their pockets.
Yes, there are other books written about this particular period of colonial history, but for some reasons, indentured labour remains an obscure subject and controversial in a political sense. What this book has accomplished while the others failed to do is giving an identity to the oppressed by representing them as people with distinct cultural identity. Their voices are being heard, loud and clear through their descendants on these pages. This book represents a distinctive piece of colonial history - it was not written or dictated from the perspective of the oppressors, thus by shifting the cannon - this anthology grants us an access to the voices of the oppressed from the colonial past and explores the impacts indentured labour left on the next generations. Overall, this is an illuminating and thought provoking read, albeit a little bit dry at times. I’d recommend this book if you’re interested in the subject matter.Â
