Coolie Migrants, Indian Diplomacy by Kalathmika Natarajan

Coolie Migrants, Indian Diplomacy by Kalathmika Natarajan

Over the centuries, millions of migrant laborers 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 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. The result is a nuanced history from the interwar period to the decades after independence, and a critical analysis centering both caste and the negotiation of "undesirable" mobility as foundational to Indian diplomacy.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780197848364
ISBN 10	0197848362
Title	Coolie Migrants, Indian Diplomacy
Author	Kalathmika Natarajan
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Year published	2026-03-01
Number of pages	320
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.