#desi history

she from the sea 

for the ones who identify with the oceans
and whose roots have known many lands -

stretched beside those of sweet cane,
cut by laborers’ hands.

i draw brown girls all the time, but am overdue for a piece on my own history ().

during the 19th & early 20th century, over 1 million indians were brought from their homelands to various european (primarily british) colonies as replacement laborers for recently emancipated african enslaved peoples.

these included various nations in south america, the caribbean, africa & asia, such as guyana , trinidad & tobago , suriname , jamaica , grenada , st. lucia , st. kitts , st. vincent, fiji , mauritius , sri lanka , malaysia , kenya & south africa . here, indentures worked on plantations for the colonizing countries who owned them for a certain length of time.

in some instances, the indentureship system was wholly consensual, but far too often it involved coercion, misinformation & kidnapping. many entered into contracts unaware of the terms they were agreeing to & the freedoms they were signing away.

i’ve linked a playlist of podcast episodes for anyone interested in learning more. some topics touched on include:

- the pieces of south asian tradition that persisted, what was lost, & the amazing hybrid cultures that came to be
- the origins of the word “coolie” & why most believe those outside the culture shouldn’t use it
- how colonizers pit indian & black communities against each other & resulting anti-blackness in the indo-caribbean community
- other lasting effects of colonization (alcoholism, weakened economies, gender-based violence, etc.)
- the (sometimes tense) relations between descendants of indian indenture & individuals more directly from south asia

of course these tiny lists are not exhaustive, nor do they cover the entirety of this corner of the south asian diaspora. maybe, though, it’s enough to encourage a deeper look into our often overlooked history.

thank you to @mjenai.art for the title & inspiration, and to @haani_beee, who identifies with the oceans <3