Coolie Migrants, Indian Diplomacy: Caste, Class and Indenture Abroad, 1914-67

Uncovers the remarkable role of emigration, particularly of indentured labourers, in forging independent India’s foreign relations. Over the centuries, millions of migrant labourers sailed from the Indian subcontinent, across the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean, to shape what is now the world’s largest diaspora.This book 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. Before and after independence, Indian notions of the international realm as a sanctified space were shaped by migrant journeys; this was 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