ABSTRACT
Indian Diaspora World Convention was held in Trinidad in 2017 to commemorate the 1917 decision of the Indian Legislature to end further recruitment of Indians for overseas indentured service.
This part is volume I of the two volume work Global Indian Diaspora. It is a significant addition to current research on India’s cultural expansion into the Atlantic and Pacific worlds. In this volume, the former indentured Empire speaks back, giving its side of the narrative, not in an apologetic accounting but rather on the positive side in diverse ways. The Girmitiyas (lit. agreement signers) maintained their core values using these to gain anchorage in the new places. At the same time, they prudently took advantage of agencies, such as the Canadian Mission to gain admission to the wider westernized community. They maintained ties with India through frequent visits of Indian scholars and missionaries. They equally preserved their cultural observances derived from Indian antiquity adding diversity to the colonial society. All of these elements combine to give a refreshing perspective on the globalization of the world, which started long before all the time.
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