Muise: Introduction of Jegathesan’s Book

Hi All! I wasn’t sure what chapters we were supposed to read, so I am writing this post about the introduction of Tea and Solidarity only. Hope that’s alright!

On page 12, Jegathesan poses the idea that the defining element of coolie is movement: “the physical move from homeland to industrial landscape, the capitalist move from person to payment, the calculated move from labor to commodity, and the oppressive move from human to subhuman” (2019, 12). She goes on to argue that coolie falls under what Rupa Vinswanath terms “the trope of gentle slavery” but holds that coolies have the capacity to destabilize their own categorization (seen, in part, in Coolitude), both for themselves and for the durai. One element of this is presented in the introduction; rather than transient, placeless people,  Hill Country Tamils assert that the tea plantations of Sri Lanka, not South India, are home (2019, 22) (Jegathesan argues that this is not true for all coolies, many of whom still maintain vision of South India as their homeland). The opening vignette of  Sadha’s leaving to work in Colombo, which ultimately proved a short-lived endeavor, speaks to the ties of home, both of family and of labor. Prior to leaving, Sadha had arranged to be a part-time worker on the tea plantation so her job remained upon her return. Both her family and their (rented?) home on plantation land, as well as stable, if underpaid and exploited, job as a picker, serve as something to come home to.

How does Sadha’s choice to leave Colombo speak to the agency that Tamil women hold even as they are situated in racialized, exploited positions of service?

What insights can we glean from the temple that never gets repaired, despite the hope that remains linked to it? How can we think about the Hill Country Tamils’ claims of Sri Lanka as home in ways that are connected to, or perhaps representative of, the long-term process of waiting for temple repair?