Download or read book A Subaltern History of the Indian Diaspora in Singapore written by John Solomon and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-03-31 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Untouchable migrants made up a substantial proportion of Indian labour migration into Singapore in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. During this period, they were subject to forms of caste prejudice and discrimination that powerfully reinforced their identities as untouchables overseas. Today, however, untouchability has disappeared from the public sphere and has been replaced by other notions of identity, leaving unanswered questions as to how and when this occurred. The untouchable migrant is also largely absent from popular narratives of the past. This book takes the "disappearance" as a starting point to examine a history of untouchable migration amongst Indians who arrived in Singapore from its modern founding as a British colony in the early nineteenth century through to its independence in 1965. Using oral history records, archival sources, colonial ethnography, newspapers and interviews, this book examines the lives of untouchable migrants through their everyday experience in an overseas multi-ethnic environment. It examines how these migrants who in many ways occupied the bottom rungs of their communities and colonial society, framed transnational issues of identity and social justice in relation to their experiences within the broader Indian diaspora in Singapore. The book trances the manner in which untouchable identities evolved and then receded in response to the dramatic social changes brought about by colonialism, war and post-colonial nationhood. By focusing on a subaltern group from the past, this study provides an alternative history of Indian migration to Singapore and a different perspective on the cultural conversations that have taken place between India and Singapore for much of the island's modern history.

Download or read book The Subaltern Indian Woman written by Prem Misir and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-11-16 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on subjugated indentured Indian women, who are constantly faced with race, gender, caste, and class oppression and inequality on overseas European-owned plantations, but who are also armed with latent links to the women’s abolition movements in the homeland. Also examining their post-indenture life, it employs a paradigm of male-dominated Indian women in India at the margins of an enduringly patriarchal society, a persisting backdrop to the huge 19th century post-slavery movement of the agricultural indentured workforce drawn largely from India. This book depicts the antithetical and contradictory explanations for the indentured Indian women’s cries, degradation and dehumanization and how the politics of change and control impacted their social organization and its legacy. The book owes its origins to the 2017 centennial commemorative event celebrating 100 years of the abolition of the indenture system of Indian labor that victimized and dehumanized Indians from 1834 through 1917.

Download or read book History at the Limit of World History written by Ranajit Guha and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2003-08-27 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The past is not just, as has been famously said, another country with foreign customs: it is a contested and colonized terrain. Indigenous histories have been expropriated, eclipsed, sometimes even wholly eradicated, in the service of imperialist aims buttressed by a distinctly Western philosophy of history. Ranajit Guha, perhaps the most influential figure in postcolonial and subaltern studies at work today, offers a critique of such historiography by taking issue with the Hegelian concept of World-history. That concept, he contends, reduces the course of human history to the amoral record of states and empires, great men and clashing civilizations. It renders invisible the quotidian experience of ordinary people and casts off all that came before it into the nether-existence known as "Prehistory." On the Indian subcontinent, Guha believes, this Western way of looking at the past was so successfully insinuated by British colonization that few today can see clearly its ongoing and pernicious influence. He argues that to break out of this habit of mind and go beyond the Eurocentric and statist limit of World-history historians should learn from literature to make their narratives doubly inclusive: to extend them in scope not only to make room for the pasts of the so-called peoples without history but to address the historicality of everyday life as well. Only then, as Guha demonstrates through an examination of Rabindranath Tagore's critique of historiography, can we recapture a more fully human past of "experience and wonder."

Download or read book Fleeting Agencies written by Arunima Datta and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-09-30 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Critically examines the agency and history of long-silenced coolie women and their role in colonial economy and transnational movements.

Download or read book Subaltern Lives written by Clare Anderson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-04-05 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fascinating book uses biographical fragments to shed new light on colonial life and convictism in the nineteenth-century Indian Ocean.

Download or read book Indentured and Post Indentured Experiences of Women in the Indian Diaspora written by Amba Pande and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-01-03 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book describes the processes of migration and settlement of indentured Indian women and tries to map their struggles, challenges and agencies. It highlights the fact that even though indentured women faced various kinds of violence and abuse owing to the authoritarian and patriarchal setup of the plantations, over a period of time, they managed to turn the adverse circumstances to their advantage. They struggled to emerge as productive workforces and empowered themselves through acquiring education and skill, and negotiating new spaces and identities for themselves. At the same time, they also raised families in often inhospitable circumstances, passing on to their descendants, a strong foundation to build successful lives for themselves.The book discusses indentured women from a multidisciplinary perspective and adopts multiple methodologies, including primary and secondary sources, personal narrations, pictorial representations and theoretical discussions. It also provides an overview of the current discourses and the changing paradigms of the studies on Indian indentured women. Further, it presents a detailed, region-wise description of indentured women migrants. The regions covered in this book are Asia- Pacific (countries covered are Fiji, Burma and Nepal); Africa (countries covered are South Africa, Mauritius and Reunion Island); and the Caribbean (countries covered are Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago). In addition, one full section of the book is devoted to the theoretical frameworks that touch upon gender performativity, normative misogyny, Bahadur's Coolie Women, literary representations and resistance movements. It is intended for academics and researches in the field of diaspora/migration/transnational studies, history, sociology, literature, women/gender studies, as well as policymakers and general readers interested in the personal experiences of women and migrants.

Download or read book Indians in Singapore 1819 1945 written by Rajesh Rai and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title is a comprehensive study of the Indian diaspora in colonial Singapore. The book provides a meticulous historical account of the formation of the diaspora in the colonial port-city, and its socio-political, religious and cultural development from the advent of British colonial rule to the end of the Japanese occupation.

Download or read book The South Asian Diaspora written by Rajesh Rai and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2008-07-25 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book uses the concept of transnational networks as a way to understand the South Asian diaspora. Offering a unique and original insight into the South Asian diaspora, this book will be of interest to academics working in the fields of South Asian studies, diaspora and cultural studies, anthropology, transnationalism and globalization.

Download or read book The Crown and the Capitalists written by Wasana Wongsurawat and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2019-11-18 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite competing with much larger imperialist neighbors in Southeast Asia, the Kingdom of Thailand—or Siam, as it was formerly known—has succeeded in transforming itself into a rival modern nation-state over the last two centuries. Recent historiography has placed progress—or lack thereof—toward Western-style liberal democracy at the center of Thailand’s narrative, but that view underestimates the importance of the colonial context. In particular, a long-standing relationship with China and the existence of a large and important Chinese diaspora within Thailand have shaped development at every stage. As the emerging nation struggled against colonial forces in Southeast Asia, ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs were neither a colonial force against whom Thainess was identified, nor had they been able to fully assimilate into Thai society. Wasana Wongsurawat demonstrates that the Kingdom of Thailand’s transformation into a modern nation-state required the creation of a national identity that justified not only the hegemonic rule of monarchy but also the involvement of the ethnic Chinese entrepreneurial class upon whom it depended. Her revisionist view traces the evolution of this codependent relationship through the twentieth century, as Thailand struggled against colonial forces in Southeast Asia, found itself an ally of Japan in World War II, and reconsidered its relationship with China in the postwar era.

Download or read book Subaltern Urbanisation in India written by Eric Denis and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-03-01 with total page 632 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ​This volume decentres the view of urbanisation in India from large agglomerations towards smaller urban settlements. It presents the outcomes of original research conducted over three years on subaltern processes of urbanization. The volume is organised in four sections. A first one deals with urbanisation dynamics and systems of cities with chapters on the new census towns, demographic and economic trajectories of cities and employment transformation. The interrelations of land transformation, social and cultural changes form the topic of the “land, society, belonging” section based on ethnographic work in various parts of India (Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu). A third section focuses on public policies, governance and urban services with a set of macro-analysis based papers and specific case studies. Understanding the nature of production and innovation in non-metropolitan contexts closes this volume. Finally, though focused on India, this research raises larger questions with regard to the study of urbanisation and development worldwide.

Download or read book 50 Years Of Indian Community In Singapore written by Gopinath Pillai and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2016-07-04 with total page 147 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Tamils to Malayalees, from Bengalis to Punjabis, the diverse Indian community in Singapore has played a large part in building the country. To understand the Indian community, one must know certain basic facts about them.First is their love for culture which transcends religious and linguistic differences. Some of the best classical Hindustani singers are Muslims. The best Malayalam singer of Hindu religious songs is a Christian.Second is their love of debates. Argument is part of Indian tradition because of the belief that truth can only be arrived at vigorous debate.The third characteristic is the community's respect for education. Indians, across castes and religions have always venerated knowledge and learning as being a value in itself.The fourth characteristic of the Indians is their devoutness: they take their religious duties seriously and perform them regularly.This celebratory volume highlights the progress, contributions and challenges of the community for the past 50 years since Singapore's independence in 1965.

Download or read book Can the Subaltern Speak written by Rosalind C. Morris and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2010-03-16 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak's original essay "Can the Subaltern Speak?" transformed the analysis of colonialism through an eloquent and uncompromising argument that affirmed the contemporary relevance of Marxism while using deconstructionist methods to explore the international division of labor and capitalism's "worlding" of the world. Spivak's essay hones in on the historical and ideological factors that obstruct the possibility of being heard for those who inhabit the periphery. It is a probing interrogation of what it means to have political subjectivity, to be able to access the state, and to suffer the burden of difference in a capitalist system that promises equality yet withholds it at every turn. Since its publication, "Can the Subaltern Speak?" has been cited, invoked, imitated, and critiqued. In these phenomenal essays, eight scholars take stock of the effects and response to Spivak's work. They begin by contextualizing the piece within the development of subaltern and postcolonial studies and the quest for human rights. Then, through the lens of Spivak's essay, they rethink historical problems of subalternity, voicing, and death. A final section situates "Can the Subaltern Speak?" within contemporary issues, particularly new international divisions of labor and the politics of silence among indigenous women of Guatemala and Mexico. In an afterword, Spivak herself considers her essay's past interpretations and future incarnations and the questions and histories that remain secreted in the original and revised versions of "Can the Subaltern Speak?" both of which are reprinted in this book.

Download or read book Citizen Refugee written by Uditi Sen and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-08-30 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores how refugees were used as agents of nation-building in India, leading to gendered and caste-ridden policies of rehabilitation.

Download or read book Coolitude written by Marina Carter and published by Anthem Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A deconstruction of the stereotypical depictions of the coolie in the British Empire.

Download or read book Indians in Singapore 1819 1945 written by Rajesh Rai and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title is a comprehensive study of the Indian diaspora in colonial Singapore. The book provides a meticulous historical account of the formation of the diaspora in the colonial port-city, and its socio-political, religious and cultural development from the advent of British colonial rule to the end of the Japanese occupation.

Download or read book New Perspectives on the Indian Diaspora written by Ruben Gowricharn and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2021-07-23 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book critically examines new perspectives on the transformations in the Indian diaspora. It studies the changing perspectives on the historical background of the diaspora and analyses fresh and emerging views in response to new configurations in diaspora relations. The volume highlights the transformation of the old Indian diaspora into a new ensemble in which economic, ideological and cultural forces predominate and interact closely. It looks at various themes including Indian indentured emigration to sugar colonies, comparisons between labour migration from India and China, the Girmitiya diaspora, the Indian diaspora in Africa and the rise of racial nationalism, India’s soft power in the Gulf region, and the repurposing of the ‘Hindutva’ idea of India for Western societies as undertaken by diaspora communities. Lucid and topical, this book will be useful for scholars and researchers of diaspora studies, migration studies, political studies, international relations, globalisation, political sociology, sociology and South Asia studies.

Download or read book Subaltern Social Groups written by Antonio Gramsci and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2021-08-10 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Antonio Gramsci is widely celebrated as the most original political thinker in Western Marxism. Among the most central aspects of his enduring intellectual legacy is the concept of subalternity. Developed in the work of scholars such as Gayatri Spivak and Ranajit Guha, subalternity has been extraordinarily influential across fields of inquiry stretching from cultural studies, literary theory, and postcolonial criticism to anthropology, sociology, criminology, and disability studies. Almost every author whose work touches upon subalterns alludes to Gramsci’s formulation of the concept. Yet Gramsci’s original writings on the topic have not yet appeared in full in English. Among his prison notebooks, Gramsci devoted a single notebook to the theme of subaltern social groups. Notebook 25, which he entitled “On the Margins of History (History of Subaltern Social Groups),” contains a series of observations on subaltern groups from ancient Rome and medieval communes to the period after the Italian Risorgimento, in addition to discussions of the state, intellectuals, the methodological criteria of historical analysis, and reflections on utopias and philosophical novels. This volume presents the first complete translation of Gramsci’s notes on the topic. In addition to a comprehensive translation of Notebook 25 along with Gramsci’s first draft and related notes on subaltern groups, it includes a critical apparatus that clarifies Gramsci’s history, culture, and sources and contextualizes these ideas against his earlier writings and letters. Subaltern Social Groups is an indispensable account of the development of one of the crucial concepts in twentieth-century thought.