Coolitude

An Anthology of the Indian Labour Diaspora

By (author) Marina Carter, Khal Torabully

Publication date:

01 July 2002

Publisher

Anthem Press

Dimensions:

234x155mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781843310037

Coolitude is both an intellectual interpretation of and a poetic and artistic immersion into the world of the vanished coolie. This collection of previously unpublished texts, poems and sketches captures the essence of the Indian plantation experience and deconstructs traditional depictions of the status of the coolie in the British Empire.

Introduction; The Coolie Odyssey: A Voyage In Time and Space; Thrice Victimised: Casting The Coolie; Surviving Indenture; Reclaiming The 'Other': Diaspora Indians And The Coolie Heritage; Some Theoretical Premises of Coolitude; Conclusion: Revoicing the Coolie; Poetic and Critical Texts of Coolitude; Notes; Bibliography

'The concept of 'Coolitude' parallels that of 'Negritude', pioneered by Clive James and other African and Carribean intellectuals in the 1950s and 1960s, and could have an equally profound cultural impact...this book is both politically and intellectually ambitious. Marina Carter is one of the most highly regarded historians of the Indian Ocean. Her co-author is a poet and intellectual, a veritable giant in France...the list of his achievements goes one and on.' —Crispin Bates, University of Edinburgh