Social and Cultural Dimensions of Indian Indentured Labour and its Diaspora

Maurits S. Hassankhan is Head of the History Department of the Faculty of Humanities at Anton de Kom University of Suriname. Lomarsh Roopnarine is Associate Professor of Caribbean and Latin American Studies at Jackson State University, United States. Radica Mahase holds a BA and PhD in History from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine and a MA in Modern Indian History from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, India.

Introduction

PART 1: WOMEN, LABOUR AND NARRATIVES

1. Plantation Patriarchy and Structural Violence: Women Workers in Sri Lanka

Rachel Kurian and Kumari Jayawardena

2. My Life My Story: Narratives of the Women Left Behind

Nivedita Singh

3. Tracing the Past of Hindustani Indentured Women in Suriname, 1873-1921

Tanya Sitaram

PART 2: SOCIAL ISSUES AMONG HINDUSTANI IMMIGRANTS IN THE NETHERLANDS

4. Gender-specific Problems among Surinamese Hindustanis: Suicide and Alcoholism

Indra Boedjarath

5. Elderly Surinamese Hindustanis in the Netherlands

Nirmala Birjmohan

6. Emotional Loss among Hindustani Migrants in the Netherlands

Rahina Hassankhan

7. Socializing for Educational Success

Anita Nanhoe

PART 3: RELIGION, ARTS AND IDENTITY

8. Slavery and Indentured Labour from the Perspective of Art Studies

J.S. (Mitra) Rambaran and R. Safdar Zaidi

9. Fu Moimoi: Body Art as Identity Marker

Hilde Neus

10. God at the Fore-deck and at the After-deck

Joop Vernooij

PART 4: INDIAN MUSICAL TRADITIONS AND IDENTITY

11. The Dhantal’s Irreverence: Off-beat as the In-between Time of Indenture

Ananya J. Kabir

12. The Role of the Tassa Drum Ensemble in Trinidad and Tobago’s Cultural Identity Formation

Satnarine Balkaransingh

13. The Mike Men of Trinidad: Cultural, Social and Political Influences

Primnath Gooptar

Notes on Contributors

Index