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Sirdars as Intermediaries in Nineteenth-century Indian Ocean Indentured Labour Migration*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2017

CRISPIN BATES  and
MARINA CARTER
CRISPIN BATES
Affiliation:
School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom Email: crispin.bates@ed.ac.uk
MARINA CARTER
Affiliation:
School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom Email: marina.carter@ed.ac.uk
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Abstract

The sirdar (also termed sardar and jobber in Indian historiography)—foreman, recruiter, at once a labour leader and an important intermediary figure for the employers of labour both in India and in the sugar colonies—is reassessed in this article. Tithankar Roy's thoughtful 2007 article looked at how the sirdars’ multiple roles represent an incorporation of traditional authority in a modern setting, giving rise to certain contradictions. In 2010 Samita Sen, conversely, developed Rajnarayan Chandavarkar's argument about the use of labour intermediaries in colonial India to reveal how, in the case of the Assam tea plantations, the nexus between contractors and sirdars belies the ‘benign’ role often accorded to the intermediary within narratives from the tea industry. This article provides examples from the overseas labour destinations in the Indian Ocean region, particularly Mauritius, to further develop and nuance the debate, through an assessment of the complexity of sirdari roles in the colonial Indian labour diaspora.

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 51 , Special Issue 2: New Directions in Social and Economic History: Essays in Honour of David Washbrook , March 2017 , pp. 462 - 484
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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Footnotes

*

The research for this article was undertaken as part of the AHRC-funded project ‘“Becoming Coolies”: Rethinking the Origins of the Indian Labour Diaspora, 1772–1920’ at the University of Edinburgh.

References

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29 Ibid., and Bengal Emigration Proceedings: HND Beyts, Protector, Mauritius to Colonial Secretary, 15 March 1867.

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37 PP Report of the Royal Commissioners appointed to enquire into the Treatment of Indian Immigrants in Mauritius, 1875 [C. 1115], paras 2308 and 2319.

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