Coolitude: An Anthology of the Indian Labour Diaspora

(Paperback)

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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 This collection of previously unpublished texts, poems and sketches captures the essence of the Indian plantation experience and deconstructs traditional depictions of the status of the coolie in the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.

Reviews

'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, Ph.D, University of Edinburgh.
"The concept of "Coolitude" of course parallels that of 'Negritude', pioneered by Clive James and other African and Caribbean intellectuals in the 1950s and 1960s. It could have an equally profound cultural impact. [This book] is therefore politically as well as intellectually ambitious....Marina Carter is one of the most highly regarded, if not the most highly regarded, historian of the Indian Ocean. Her co-author is a poet and intellectual, a veritable giant in France: guest of honor at an International Poetry Festival 2000 in Geneva, and the list of his achievements goes on and on. It would be something of a coup to bring out this book, including extracts of his English poetry." Crispin Bates, PhD, University of Edinburgh

Author Bio

Marina Carter has worked and studied for many years in Mauritius, where she founded a pioneering NGO called the Centre for Research on Indian Ocean Societies (CRIOS). She was recently appointed as Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for South Asian Studies, University of Edinburgh. Khal Torabully completed his PhD in Lyon in 1976. His interest in mosaic identity brought forward an innovative book, 'Cale d'etoiles-coolitude', the founding text of the coolie migration viewed from the sea voyage, as space of identity construction/deconstruction in the post-modernist sense.