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. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Brinsley Samaroo had a long and distinguished career in teaching, research and writing. Most of those years were spent at the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT). He has also served in the parliament of Trinidad and Tobago as a Senator and Cabinet Minister from 1981 to 1991. His published writings have focused on the Indian Diaspora, the Caribbean and South Indian history.
Primnath Gooptar is a writer, biographer, social worker, cultural promoter, former school principal, Hindi cinema scholar and a lecturer in Indian Cinema (UWI), Trinidad. He has presented several papers on the Indian indentureship experience at conferences in Trinidad, United Kingdom, Suriname, Mauritius, St. Vincent and India.
Kumar Mahabir is a former Assistant Professor at the University of Trinidad and Tobago. He obtained his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Florida. He won a Florida Caribbean Institute Award, an A. Curtis Wilgus Fellowship, and an Organization of American States (OAS) Fellowship.
