Conceiving the Coolie Woman: Indentured Labour, Indian Women and Colonial Discourse

Abstract

In the 1830s and 1840s, the Indian woman played a crucial role in British colonial debates about the imperial obligation to reform and improve the social and moral condition of the ‘subject peoples’. For example, the British colonial government in India passed legislation to abolish sati and to allow widow remarriage. Thus, in terms of the status of women, colonial rule presented itself as a civilising and moral force. During this same period, as Indian indentured labour became a central component of the imperial economy, the British colonial discourse designated some Indian men and women as low-caste labourers or ‘coolies’. As colonial rule challenged what it saw as the ‘traditional’ roles of the Indian woman, such as the victimised widow or the child bride, it also created a new moral capacity for her, specifically as a coolie woman.