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We Mark Your Memory: writings from the descendants of indenture
The abolition of slavery was the catalyst for the arrival of the first Indian indentured labourers into the sugar colonies of Mauritius (1834), Guyana (1838) and Trinidad (1845), followed some years later by the inception of the system in South Africa (1860) and Fiji (1879). By the time indenture was abolished in the British Empire (1917–20), over one million Indians had been contracted, the overwhelming majority of whom never returned to India. Today, an Indian indentured labour diaspora is to be found in Commonwealth countries including Belize, Kenya, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and the Seychelles.
Indenture, whereby individuals entered, or were coerced, into an agreement to work in a colony in return for a fixed period of labour, was open to abuse from recruitment to plantation. Hidden within this little-known system of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Indian migration under the British Empire are hitherto neglected stories of workers who were both exploited and unfree. These include indentured histories from Madeira to the Caribbean, from West Africa to the Caribbean, and from China to the Caribbean, Mauritius and South Africa.
To mark the centenary of the abolition of the system in the British Empire (2017–20) this volume brings together, for the first time, new writing from across the Commonwealth. It is a unique attempt to explore, through the medium of poetry and prose, the indentured heritage of the twenty-first century.
Indenture, whereby individuals entered, or were coerced, into an agreement to work in a colony in return for a fixed period of labour, was open to abuse from recruitment to plantation. Hidden within this little-known system of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Indian migration under the British Empire are hitherto neglected stories of workers who were both exploited and unfree. These include indentured histories from Madeira to the Caribbean, from West Africa to the Caribbean, and from China to the Caribbean, Mauritius and South Africa.
To mark the centenary of the abolition of the system in the British Empire (2017–20) this volume brings together, for the first time, new writing from across the Commonwealth. It is a unique attempt to explore, through the medium of poetry and prose, the indentured heritage of the twenty-first century.
202 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 30, 2018
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About the author
David Dabydeen
34 books22 followersDavid Dabydeen (born 9 December 1955) is a Guyanese-born critic, writer, novelist and academic. Since 2010 he has been Guyana's ambassador to China.
Dabydeen is the author of novels, collections of poetry and works of non-fiction and criticism, as editor as well as writer. His first book, Slave Song (1984), a collection of poetry, won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize and the Quiller-Couch Prize. A further collection, Turner: New and Selected Poems, was published in 1994, and reissued in 2002; the title-poem, Turner is an extended sequence or verse novel responding to a painting by J. M. W. Turner, "Slavers Throwing overboard the Dead and Dying – Typhoon coming on" (1840).
His first novel, The Intended (1991), the story of a young Asian student abandoned in London by his father, won the Guyana Prize for Literature. Disappearance (1993) tells the story of a young Guyanese engineer working on the south coast of England who lodges with an elderly woman. The Counting House (1996) is set at the end of the nineteenth century and narrates the experiences of an Indian couple whose hopes of a new life in colonial Guyana end in tragedy. The story explores historical tensions between indentured Indian workers and Guyanese of African descent. His 1999 novel, A Harlot's Progress, is based on a series of pictures painted in 1732 by William Hogarth (who was the subject of Dabydeen's PhD) and develops the story of Hogarth's black slave boy. Through the character of Mungo, Dabydeen challenges traditional cultural representations of the slave. His latest novel, Our Lady of Demerara, was published in 2004.
Dabydeen has been awarded the title of fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He is the second West Indian writer (V.S. Naipaul was the first) and the only Guyanese writer to receive the title.
In 2001 Dabydeen wrote and presented The Forgotten Colony, a BBC Radio 4 programme exploring the history of Guyana. His one-hour documentary Painting the People was broadcast by BBC television in 2004.
The Oxford Companion to Black British History, co-edited by Dabydeen, John Gilmore and Cecily Jones, appeared in 2007.
In 2007, Dabydeen was awarded the Hind Rattan (Jewel of India) Award for his outstanding contribution to literature and the intellectual life of the Indian diaspora.
(from Wikipedia)
Dabydeen is the author of novels, collections of poetry and works of non-fiction and criticism, as editor as well as writer. His first book, Slave Song (1984), a collection of poetry, won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize and the Quiller-Couch Prize. A further collection, Turner: New and Selected Poems, was published in 1994, and reissued in 2002; the title-poem, Turner is an extended sequence or verse novel responding to a painting by J. M. W. Turner, "Slavers Throwing overboard the Dead and Dying – Typhoon coming on" (1840).
His first novel, The Intended (1991), the story of a young Asian student abandoned in London by his father, won the Guyana Prize for Literature. Disappearance (1993) tells the story of a young Guyanese engineer working on the south coast of England who lodges with an elderly woman. The Counting House (1996) is set at the end of the nineteenth century and narrates the experiences of an Indian couple whose hopes of a new life in colonial Guyana end in tragedy. The story explores historical tensions between indentured Indian workers and Guyanese of African descent. His 1999 novel, A Harlot's Progress, is based on a series of pictures painted in 1732 by William Hogarth (who was the subject of Dabydeen's PhD) and develops the story of Hogarth's black slave boy. Through the character of Mungo, Dabydeen challenges traditional cultural representations of the slave. His latest novel, Our Lady of Demerara, was published in 2004.
Dabydeen has been awarded the title of fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He is the second West Indian writer (V.S. Naipaul was the first) and the only Guyanese writer to receive the title.
In 2001 Dabydeen wrote and presented The Forgotten Colony, a BBC Radio 4 programme exploring the history of Guyana. His one-hour documentary Painting the People was broadcast by BBC television in 2004.
The Oxford Companion to Black British History, co-edited by Dabydeen, John Gilmore and Cecily Jones, appeared in 2007.
In 2007, Dabydeen was awarded the Hind Rattan (Jewel of India) Award for his outstanding contribution to literature and the intellectual life of the Indian diaspora.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 2, 2020
Searing accounts of indentured labour told by the descendants of the laborers themselves. This anthology explores variegated stories of indentured laborers from the British colonies in the 19th century. The stories are personal and utterly poignant.
Many of them stood out to me as they recalled the tales of womanhood that are sometimes omitted from this type of anthology. Slavery in The British Empire was reinvented with a new name as the workers from India were shipped off to the British colonies under indentureship.
Many workers who were recruited often struggle to find their own cultural identity in a strange new land under colonialism. In most cases, it was coercion or misrepresentation that paved the way for human exploitation. They were bound by a system that was constructed against their freewill.
Their distinct cultural identity was removed along with their humanity - to the masters there were simply workers toiling in the sugar plantation to fill their pockets.
Yes, there are other books written about this particular period of colonial history, but for some reasons, indentured labour remains an obscure subject and controversial in a political sense. What this book has accomplished while the others failed to do is giving an identity to the oppressed by representing them as people with distinct cultural identity.
Their voices are being heard, loud and clear through their descendants on these pages. This book represents a distinctive piece of colonial history - it was not written or dictated from the perspective of the oppressors, thus by shifting the cannon - this anthology grants us an access to the voices of the oppressed from the colonial past and explores the impacts indentured labour left on the next generations.
Overall, this is an illuminating and thought provoking read, albeit a little bit dry at times. I’d recommend this book if you’re interested in the subject matter.
Many of them stood out to me as they recalled the tales of womanhood that are sometimes omitted from this type of anthology. Slavery in The British Empire was reinvented with a new name as the workers from India were shipped off to the British colonies under indentureship.
Many workers who were recruited often struggle to find their own cultural identity in a strange new land under colonialism. In most cases, it was coercion or misrepresentation that paved the way for human exploitation. They were bound by a system that was constructed against their freewill.
Their distinct cultural identity was removed along with their humanity - to the masters there were simply workers toiling in the sugar plantation to fill their pockets.
Yes, there are other books written about this particular period of colonial history, but for some reasons, indentured labour remains an obscure subject and controversial in a political sense. What this book has accomplished while the others failed to do is giving an identity to the oppressed by representing them as people with distinct cultural identity.
Their voices are being heard, loud and clear through their descendants on these pages. This book represents a distinctive piece of colonial history - it was not written or dictated from the perspective of the oppressors, thus by shifting the cannon - this anthology grants us an access to the voices of the oppressed from the colonial past and explores the impacts indentured labour left on the next generations.
Overall, this is an illuminating and thought provoking read, albeit a little bit dry at times. I’d recommend this book if you’re interested in the subject matter.
June 4, 2021
We Mark Your Memory was on my TBR list for quite some time and I'm so glad I got my hands on it.
As someone who has a deep interest in the indenture period, I found this book both useful for personal research and fascinating as you're exposed to beautifully written poems, prose and essays that transport you to a period of time that we've only ever heard about. What I particularly liked about this book was that it contained writing from descendants of all the regions indentured labourers were brought to. While I'm very familiar with Trinidad and Guyana's history, I wasn't familiar with the stories that came from South Africa, Sri Lanka or Fiji.
Much of the writing was deeply personal and told of the writer's grandmothers, grandfathers, parents etc. I personally love that documentation of family history and overall it made the collection one that could connect deeply to any descendant of indenture (hence the title). Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking to read more voices of our past.
As someone who has a deep interest in the indenture period, I found this book both useful for personal research and fascinating as you're exposed to beautifully written poems, prose and essays that transport you to a period of time that we've only ever heard about. What I particularly liked about this book was that it contained writing from descendants of all the regions indentured labourers were brought to. While I'm very familiar with Trinidad and Guyana's history, I wasn't familiar with the stories that came from South Africa, Sri Lanka or Fiji.
Much of the writing was deeply personal and told of the writer's grandmothers, grandfathers, parents etc. I personally love that documentation of family history and overall it made the collection one that could connect deeply to any descendant of indenture (hence the title). Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking to read more voices of our past.
December 15, 2019
Maria del Pilar KaladeenTina K. Ramnarine
This is an utterly marvelous book. I rather prematurely posted on twitter about how wonderful the book is after reading a couple of chapters. In fact, I should've waited to appreciate every one of them. So poetic, so traumatic, gut wrenching and heavy - I simultaneously put the book away, and went back to it several times. Yet, this is a must read; many of us in India are not taught about this particular part of colonial history. Lives lost, lives reconstructed. Tales of the Sea by Gaiutra Bahadur was, in many ways, a perfect summary for this anthology. How many tales must the seas have seen?! If they could talk!
This is an utterly marvelous book. I rather prematurely posted on twitter about how wonderful the book is after reading a couple of chapters. In fact, I should've waited to appreciate every one of them. So poetic, so traumatic, gut wrenching and heavy - I simultaneously put the book away, and went back to it several times. Yet, this is a must read; many of us in India are not taught about this particular part of colonial history. Lives lost, lives reconstructed. Tales of the Sea by Gaiutra Bahadur was, in many ways, a perfect summary for this anthology. How many tales must the seas have seen?! If they could talk!
November 20, 2021
Incredible anthology from descendants of indenture!
Loved the compilation of various different styles of writing- short stories, poetry, imaginative essays, academic essays.
Some pieces were easy to digest while others took me a couple days to process- especially the stories that resonated with me.
My favs were - Mother Wounds by Gitan Djeli, Talanoa with my Grandmother by Noella Nive Moa and Brij V Lal's The Tamarind Tree.
Loved the compilation of various different styles of writing- short stories, poetry, imaginative essays, academic essays.
Some pieces were easy to digest while others took me a couple days to process- especially the stories that resonated with me.
My favs were - Mother Wounds by Gitan Djeli, Talanoa with my Grandmother by Noella Nive Moa and Brij V Lal's The Tamarind Tree.
October 14, 2021
For each individual living and belonging to the former colonies, an important read.
January 15, 2024
It took me a year to finish reading this book. For anyone working to challenge their own ignorance, worth your time.
October 26, 2023
We Mark Your Memory: Writing from the Descendants of Indenture is an anthology edited by David Dabydeen, Maria del Pilar Kaladeen, and Tina K. Ramnarine. It is a collection of poems, stories, and essays that mark the centenary of the abolition of indentured labour in the british empire, and explores indentured heritage in the 21st century. Most of the pieces in this book are about the Indian indentured labour diaspora.
My Indian ancestors were indentured labourers in Guyana. Reading this book was a healing experience because it acknowledges that indenture happened and it gave space for descendants to write about their heritage and identity. Indenture isn't a commonly discussed topic unless it's a part of your heritage. How many of you can say that you knew about the millions of Indian, Chinese, and African people who were coerced into migrating to british colonies, or stolen from their homes, all with false promises of freedom and wealth? Growing up, being a descendant of indenture felt like a secret only my family knew about. In my experience it's rare for someone to understand what being Guyanese really means.
I enjoyed most of the pieces in this book, especially the poems. The poets did an incredible job of capturing different aspects of the indenture experience, as well as what it feels like to be a descendant of indenture. I appreciate how indenture histories were discussed across the world, expanding my understanding of the indenture system and how widespread it was. The essay Tales of the Sea by Gaiutra Bahadur was my favourite.
The existence of this book is an act of resistance. Many records of indentured labourers were destroyed (if records were kept at all), erasing the identities and information about the people who laboured at plantations across the world. This made it easier to forget about indenture and erase these people from history. But the descendants of indenture remember and we carry what little knowledge remains of our ancestor's lives with us.
My Indian ancestors were indentured labourers in Guyana. Reading this book was a healing experience because it acknowledges that indenture happened and it gave space for descendants to write about their heritage and identity. Indenture isn't a commonly discussed topic unless it's a part of your heritage. How many of you can say that you knew about the millions of Indian, Chinese, and African people who were coerced into migrating to british colonies, or stolen from their homes, all with false promises of freedom and wealth? Growing up, being a descendant of indenture felt like a secret only my family knew about. In my experience it's rare for someone to understand what being Guyanese really means.
I enjoyed most of the pieces in this book, especially the poems. The poets did an incredible job of capturing different aspects of the indenture experience, as well as what it feels like to be a descendant of indenture. I appreciate how indenture histories were discussed across the world, expanding my understanding of the indenture system and how widespread it was. The essay Tales of the Sea by Gaiutra Bahadur was my favourite.
The existence of this book is an act of resistance. Many records of indentured labourers were destroyed (if records were kept at all), erasing the identities and information about the people who laboured at plantations across the world. This made it easier to forget about indenture and erase these people from history. But the descendants of indenture remember and we carry what little knowledge remains of our ancestor's lives with us.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews