Introduction

During the colonial period, Tamil migrants from untouchable castes formed a substantial segment of Indian migration into Singapore, a fact often ignored, overlooked or under-examined in existing scholarship that deals with the history of the Indian diaspora in Singapore. Often the most vulnerable members of their societies in India, untouchables were subjected to prejudice, discrimination and violence on account of their caste identities. Observers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries predicted that caste identities and untouchability would rapidly diminish and disappear with overseas migration. In Singapore, however, practices of untouchability remained resilient for decades, colouring the everyday experiences of these migrants as they negotiated new lives in a fluid environment characterised by ethnic diversity and shaped by questions about colonialism, identity, belonging and social justice.