Much of the early twentieth-century resistance against British rule focused on longstanding grievances against colonial land alienation, taxation, and coercive labour practices. This week will focus on the ways coloniser populations challenged these conditions. Whilst we will examine a range of resistance movements throughout the Empire, we will focus on the resistance of Indian indentured labourers in Mauritius, Fiji, Trinidad, and South Africa.

Seminar Questions:

1) How did Indian indentured labourers resist coercive labour practices and poor living conditions?

2) How did the indenture scheme come to an end?

3) Hugh Tinker labelled indenture as a 'new system of slavery'. How does indentured resistance compare to the enslaved resistance which we examined in Unit 1?