International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume IV, Issue VII, July 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186

Women and Culture in the Hard Days of Indenture: The Case of Mauritius

Varsharanee Bissessur-Doolooa
Department of Theatre and Performing Arts, Rabindranath Tagore Institute

Abstract -This paper aims to highlight the pivotal role of women in the island of Mauritius during the hard days of indenture, where they landed as dependent beings yet they proved to be robust in supporting the male migrants both physically and emotionally. It [mainly] focuses on women being instrumental in establishing a stable family life and also lays emphasis on the presence of women that was crucial in building the Indo-Mauritian community, by sowing cultural and religious roots on a new land, which was to become their homeland. A qualitative research methodology, more precisely the document analysis method has been used to explore and evaluate the social facts during indenture, based on books, journals, newspaper articles, documentary films and previous studies, that provide historical insights. Marina Carter has been a major reference by virtue of her authoritative studies and publications on immigration in Mauritius. While scholars, as in ([7]-[13]), [23] and [28] have elaborated on the contribution of the first generation of Indian women in the socio-economic field of Mauritius, little has been mentioned about women and culture. In this endeavour, the biosocial theory as well as a reflexive approach has been preferred to understand the lifestyle and perseverance of women of Indian origin in the cultural domain.

Keywords: Indian women, indenture, culture, Mauritius.

I. INTRODUCTION

Few themes pertaining to the system of indentured labour during British colonial rule resound with so much bitter connotation as that of women in indenture. Following the abolition of slavery in the early 1830s, the new scheme of recruiting workforce on contract agreement is perceived simply as another form of slavery by Tinker [32], an opinion which is emphasized by his interpretation of afflicted Indian women migrants, being the “sorry sisterhood of single, broken creatures”. A significant number of scholars, as in [18] and many more, seem to share this derisory opinion, as the majority of studies tend to emphasize the painful life experiences of Indian immigrants in their respective host countries. Carter [7] strongly opposes the opinions of such historians whom she condemns for having “[…] done a disservice to women under indenture by reproducing stereotypes which portrayed female migrants as social outcasts in India who became the amoral profiteers of sexual scarcity in the colonial sugar plantations.”