People working under and against indenture in Mauritius and elsewhere

This page of resources  for teaching about indenture was developed in support of the webinar with Dr. Krish Seetah on archeologies of indenture in Mauritius on March 6, 2024. See Dr. Seetah’s lecture below.

 

“The British Government selected Mauritius as a first site for what it called ‘The Great Experiment’ in the use of ‘free labor’ to replace [en]slaved people. Mauritius welcomed the largest contingent of indentured workers mainly from India. Between 1834 and 1920, almost half a million of indentured workers arrived at the Aapravasi Ghat to work in the sugar plantations of Mauritius or to be transfered to Reunion island, Australia, Southern, and Eastern Africa or the Caribbean. Some went back and others stayed and made Mauritius home.” (Honorable Avinash Teelock)

Images of Aapravasi Ghat, UNESCO World Heritage Site, immigration depot for indentured workers in Port Louis, Mauritius.

Essential Questions

  • Who were indentured workers and who created the system of indentured work?
  • In which ways does the system of indentured work show the politics of capitalism and racism of the British empire?
  • In which way does the system of indentured work evidence of a continued policy of racism and class exploitation globally?
  • How does the system play out similarly and differently across contexts?
  • What was the experience of people who were indentured workers and in which ways did they affirm their agency and resist the system that was imposed on them?

Texts for Students to Read

An Overview of the History of Indenture in the British Empire. A comprehensive & descriptive report which describes the indenture labor system and then covers fifteen countries, from Jamaica, South Africa, Fiji, Mauritius, and more. A text which you can choose small excerpts from to read about specific cases.

 

 

Excavated Artifacts at Aapravasi Ghat by archeologist Geoffrey Summers, 2011. Aapravasi Ghat is the site of disembarcation of indentured workers in Mauritius. This text presents a full report with pictures of artifacts, including construction materials (bricks, bitumen, etc.), ceramics (dishes, cooking pots, porcelain, stoneware).

 

Google Arts and Culture Storymap of Aapravasi Ghat. An easy to read photographic journey of the significance and architecture of the immigration depot in Port Louis, Mauritius.

 

Commemorating 180 years of the arrival of indentured workers in Mauritius

Mis-labelled as a “souvenir” magazine, this 100-page publication is full of pictures of indentured sites, stories of people, and description of the process of memorializing sites as part of world heritage. It includes short articles about indenture globally, from Trinidad, Guadeloupe, Suriname and beyond. A very useful, vivid text that can be used in the classroom for student research.

Humanizing the Lives of Indentured Workers: Bibi Zuhoorun

Primary Source: The Life of Bibi Zuhoorun from the British Library Report of the Calcutta Committee of Inquiry, 1839, containing Zuhoorun’s testimony.

And a short video Untold Lives (~3.5 min) summarizing the struggle of Bibi Zuhoorun

 

For further resources on the history of enslavement and resistance in the Indian Ocean islands, see our page Histories of Africa and Indian Ocean Worlds: Teaching about Enslavement & Resistance