Coolie Woman (full title: Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture) is a book written by Gaiutra Bahadur and co-published in 2013 by Hurst and Company of London[1] in Europe and the University of Chicago Press in the US.[2] Editions from Hachette in India in 2013 and Jacana in South Africa in 2014 followed.[citation needed]
 First edition (India) | |
| Author | Gaiutra Bahadur |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Published | 2013 |
| Publisher | C. Hurst & Co. (UK) University of Chicago Press (US) Hachette India |
| Publication place | England |
The book is a biography of Sujaria, the great-grandmother of the author[3] and simultaneously an exploration of the indentured labor system, which was practiced in the Caribbean.[4] Tracing Sujaria's 1903 journey as a Brahmin caste woman from Bihar, India's poorest state, to the sugarcane plantations of British Guiana,[5] Bahadur wove both archival and published records,[6] as well as folk and oral sources,[citation needed] to tell the broader story of "the exodus and settlement of Indian women to the Caribbean".[6] She critically examined the caste system, Indian family structure, and the indenture system itself in an attempt to understand how each of these shaped her grandmother and how migration changed or affected women's lives.[1] The word coolie, which was used in the Atlantic World to refer to primarily Indian and Chinese indentured workers from Asia, is considered a pejorative.[3][7] Bahadur chose the title to acknowledge the stigma[5] but also as a metaphor for the baggage women carried as a result of colonialism.[3]
Reviewers have pointed to the importance the work holds for a "neglected area of scholarship", about the age when Asian indentured workers replaced African slaves on plantations in the Caribbean,[8] as well as its exploration of feminist themes of societal and family oppression, poverty, lack of power, sexual abuse and violence.[9] Praised for her storytelling, as well as academic treatment, the book has appeal for both scholars and casual readers.[6] Coolie Woman was shortlisted for multiple literary awards, including the Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature (2014)[10] and the Orwell Prize in Britain (2014).[11][12] [13] It won the 2014 Caribbean Studies Association's Gordon K. and Sybil Lewis Prize, which annually recognizes interdisciplinary works that examine Caribbean culture and society, have been published within the preceding three years, and are written in one of the languages prevalent in the region.[14][15] The Chronicle of Higher Education included the book in its round-up of the best scholarly books of the decade in 2020.[16]
References
editCitations
edit- ^ a b Premdas 2015, p. 516.
- ^ Mukherjee 2015, p. 170.
- ^ a b c NPR 2013.
- ^ Tripathi 2013.
- ^ a b Paul 2014.
- ^ a b c Carter 2015, p. 146.
- ^ Afzal 2015, p. 68.
- ^ Premdas 2015, p. 517.
- ^ Afzal 2015, p. 68-69.
- ^ Bocas News 2014.
- ^ Stabroek News 2014.
- ^ The Orwell Prize 2014.
- ^ "Orwell prize shortlist headed by Thatcher biography". TheGuardian.com. 24 April 2014.
- ^ Nieman Foundation for Journalism 2014.
- ^ Romero 2014.
- ^ "The Best Scholarly Books of the Decade". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
Bibliography
edit- Afzal, Ahmed (Summer 2015). "Intimacies, Relationships and Socialities: South Asians and Racialist America in the Early Twentieth Century". American Studies. 54 (2): 59–71. doi:10.1353/ams.2015.0059. ISSN 0026-3079. S2CID 67840494.
- Carter, Marina (1 January 2015). "Book Reviews: "Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture", by Gaiutra Bahadur". The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History. 43 (1): 145–164. doi:10.1080/03086534.2015.997464. ISSN 0308-6534. S2CID 161497958.
- Mukherjee, Arun P. (14 January 2015). "Book reviews: "Coolie woman: the odyssey of indenture"". Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. 39 (1): 170–187. doi:10.1080/08263663.2014.985116. ISSN 0826-3663. S2CID 178346957.
- Paul, Annie (31 March 2014). "A Coolie Woman's Work is Never Done". Asian American Writer's Workshop. New York, New York. Archived from the original on 4 May 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
- Premdas, Ralph (19 February 2015). "Book reviews: "Coolie woman: the odyssey of indenture"". Ethnic and Racial Studies. 38 (3): 516–517. doi:10.1080/01419870.2014.946940. ISSN 1466-4356. S2CID 143704169.
- Romero, Ivette (31 May 2014). "The Gordon K. and Sybil Lewis Award 2014—Caribbean Studies Association". Poughkeepsie, New York: Repeating Islands. Archived from the original on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
- Tripathi, Salil (5 November 2013). "Review – Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture, By Gaiutra Bahadur. Hurst £20". The Independent. London, England. Archived from the original on 1 November 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
- "'Coolie Woman' Rescues Indentured Women From Anonymity". Washington, D.C.: NPR. 19 November 2013. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
- "Gaiutra Bahadur". The Orwell Prize. London, England: King’s College London. 2014. Archived from the original on 9 January 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
- "Gaiutra Bahadur, NF '08, Wins Award for Book". Nieman Foundation for Journalism. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University. 12 September 2014. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
- "Gaiutra Bahadur's Coolie Woman shortlisted for Orwell Prize". Georgetown, Guyana: Stabroek News. 1 May 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
- "Ten writers vie for the 2014 OCM Bocas Prize". Bocas Lit Fest. St. Clair, Port of Spain, Trinidad. 25 February 2014. Archived from the original on 5 April 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2016.