ABSTRACT
However, the non-migratory thesis represents only one valid aspect of Indian indenture in British Guiana and Trinidad. Other things were happening that had little to do with planter control over labour. Indian indentured labourers tried to nd continuities with their departed homeland in their new environment. ey simply did not abandon their pre-indenture ambitions-such as the desire to move for better opportunities-and accept the paternalistic structure of the plantation system. If these points are not recognized and addressed, then the migratory patterns of indentured Indians in British Guiana and Trinidad will be grossly misrepresented in Indian indenture historiography in the Caribbean. It would seem illogical to conclude that for over three-quarters of a century (1838-1920) indentured Indian migration was simply restricted between India and British Guiana and Trinidad as well as between plantations. Migration, restricted or free, is not so characteristically insular. is article proposes that migration during indenture in British Guiana and Trinidad was more active and wider than previously discussed. e argument is that while some segments of the Indian indentured population were subdued by the strict, restrictive migration policies, other Indians challenged these very policies and migrated for better life opportunities. It is also argued that Indians possessed a deeper understanding than previously thought of their new indentured communities and beyond. Over time, they used this knowledge effectively to achieve wider migratory goals. In many respects, migration during indenture relied on trans-colonial networks,
which have been undetected and rarely analysed. is article divides the examination of trans-colonial migration during indenture in British Guiana and Trinidad into three sections. Section 1 provides a background of indenture in terms of migration between India and British Guiana and Trinidad to contextualize trans-colonial migration. Section 2 examines trans-colonial migration to and from British Guiana and Trinidad, that is, within the Caribbean. Section 3 analyses trans-colonial migration from other colonies (Natal, Mauritius, Fiji) to British Guiana and Trinidad as well as second-term migration of time-expired Indian indentured labourers from India who had indentured in British Guiana and Trinidad previously.
