ABSTRACT

This paper traces the multi-dimensional aspects to South Indian coolie life in nineteenth and early twentieth century Malaya to interject into decades of scholarship that has trained on a homogenous focus on plantation fieldwork. In search of the nuances of diasporic diversity, I located three memoirs written by European planters of the Malayan plantocracy, set in rubber plantations and selected primarily for their reflections of South Indian coolie life from various socio-cultural angles. My reading of the three memoirs uncovered a host of various micro-narratives surrounding South Indians in the plantation, including references to cattle rearing, legacies of ancient ayurveda practices as well as the participatory communal network between coolie women as wage earners, wives, midwives and mothers. I conclude by arguing that such a host of eclectic tones can effectively bring other stories, to the surface and dismantle monotonous perceptions of South Indian coolie life in Malaya.

摘要

本文追溯了 19 世纪和 20 世纪初马来亚的南印度苦力生活的多维方面，以插入几十年来一直专注于种植田野调查的学术研究。为了寻找散居多样性的细微差别，我找到了三本由马来亚植物统治下的欧洲种植园主撰写的回忆录，这些回忆录以橡胶种植园为背景，主要是因为它们从各种社会文化角度反映了南印度苦力的生活而被选中。我阅读了这三本回忆录，发现了围绕种植园中南印度人的各种微观叙事，包括提及养牛、古代阿育吠陀实践的遗产，以及苦力妇女作为工资收入者、妻子、助产士和妈妈们。