Fragments of Empire: Capital, Slavery, and Indian Indentured Labor in the British Caribbean [Hardcover]

Madhavi Kale (Author)

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Product Details

Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Scholarly Book Services Inc (Jun 27 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0812234677
ISBN-13: 978-0812234671
Product Dimensions: 23.8 x 16.1 x 2.7 cm
Shipping Weight: 562 g
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,290,168 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Review

In Fragments of Empire indenture becomes a lens through which empire, in all its complexity and vastness, comes into view. This is an empire that one does not see usually, an empire better described as a single constellation that arises in the imbrication of different spaces, levels, practices, and ideas. I cannot say enough about the importance of this idea, for it forces us to rethink current notions of colonialism and imperialism."-Gyan Prakash, Princeton University "A landmark study. The book gives a completely new reading of the cultural, racial, and economic dynamics of indentured Indian labour in the British Caribbean. The book is nothing less than a wake-up call to postcolonial theorists."-EHR "Fragments offers a new and refreshing perspective, taking us beyond chronology to a thorough examination of some of the macroconsiderations which tied together an early attempt at globalization... Any attempt to understand this present must be based on that past. Fragments of Empire successfully unravels much of that complicated past, making sense of a tangled maze of imperialistic devices. In this sense it is a very useful continuation of our understanding of worldwide diasporas."-International Review of Social History

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Historians, by relying on biased sources, have perpetuated the acceptance of a privileged perspective on imperial British history. In Fragments of Empire indenture becomes a lens through which empire, in all its complexity and vastness, comes into view. This is an empire that one does not see usually, an empire better described as a single constellation that arises in the imbrication of different spaces, levels, practices, and ideas. I cannot say enough about the importance of this idea, for it forces us to rethink current notions of colonialism and imperialism."--Gyan Prakash, Princeton University "A landmark study. The book gives a completely new reading of the cultural, racial, and economic dynamics of indentured Indian labour in the British Caribbean. The book is nothing less than a wake-up call to postcolonial theorists."--EHR "Fragments offers a new and refreshing perspective, taking us beyond chronology to a thorough examination of some of the macroconsiderations which tied together an early attempt at globalization. . . . Any attempt to understand this present must be based on that past. Fragments of Empire successfully unravels much of that complicated past, making sense of a tangled maze of imperialistic devices. In this sense it is a very useful continuation of our understanding of worldwide diasporas."--International Review of Social History When Great Britain abolished slavery in 1833, sugar planters in the Caribbean found themselves facing the prospect of paying working wages to their former slaves. Cheaper labor existed elsewhere in the empire, however, and plantation owners, along with the home and colonial governments, quickly began importing the first of what would eventually be hundreds of thousands of indentured laborers from India. Madhavi Kale draws extensively on the archival materials from the period and argues that imperial administrators sanctioned and authorized distinctly biased accounts of postemancipation labor conditions and participated in devaluing and excluding alternative accounts of slavery. As she does this she highlights the ways in which historians, by relying on these biased sources, have perpetuated the acceptance of a privileged perspective on imperial British history. Madhavi Kale teaches history at Bryn Mawr College.

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
THIS CHAPTER FOCUSES on the initial scheme for importing Indian laborers for plantations in British Guiana, its reception and course, and introduces some of the debates and characters that have animated accounts, memories and histories of the migration. Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index