Jumping Ship - Skirting Empire: Indians, Aborigines and Australians across the Indian Ocean

Goodall, H; Ghosh, D; Todd, L

Jumping Ship - Skirting Empire: Indians, Aborigines and Australians across the Indian Ocean

Goodall, H

Ghosh, D

Todd, L

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Publisher:: University of Technology, Sydney
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Transforming Cultures eJournal, 2008, 3 (1), pp. 44 - 74
Issue Date:: 2008-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Goodall, H https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8643-5624	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Ghosh, D https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9096-5954	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Todd, L	en_US
dc.date.issued	2008-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Transforming Cultures eJournal, 2008, 3 (1), pp. 44 - 74	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1833-8542	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/10622
dc.description.abstract	Relationships between South Asians and Australians during the colonial period have been little investigated. Closer attention to the dramatically expanded sea trade after 1850 and the relatively uncontrolled movement of people, ideas and goods which occurred on them, despite claims of imperial regulation, suggests that significant numbers of Indians among others entered Australia outside the immigration restrictions of empire or settlers. Given that many of them entered or remained in Australia without official sanction, their histories will not be found in the official immigration records, but rather in the memories and momentos of the communities into which they might have moved. Exploring the histories of Aboriginal communities and of maritime working class networks does allow a previously unwritten history to emerge: not only of Indian individuals with complex personal and working histories, but often as activists in the campaigns against racial discrimination and in support of decolonization. Yet their heritage has been obscured. The polarizing conflict between settlers and Aboriginal Australians has invariably meant that Aboriginal people of mixed background had to `choose sides to be counted simplistically as either `black or `white. The need to defend the communitys rights has meant that Aboriginal people had to be unequivocal in their identification and this simplification has had to take precedence over the assertion of a diverse heritage. In working class histories, the mobilization of selective ethnic stereotyping has meant that the history of Indians as workers, as unionists and as activists has been distorted and ignored.	en_US
dc.publisher	University of Technology, Sydney	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Transforming Cultures eJournal	en_US
dc.title	Jumping Ship - Skirting Empire: Indians, Aborigines and Australians across the Indian Ocean	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	1	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	3	en_US
utslib.for	2002 Cultural Studies	en_US
utslib.for	2103 Historical Studies	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/e-Press
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences/FASS Faculty Administration
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences/Social and Political Sciences Program
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - CCS - Cosmopolitan Civil Societies
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.consider-herdc	true	en_US
pubs.issue	1	en_US
pubs.volume	3	en_US

Abstract:

Relationships between South Asians and Australians during the colonial period have been little investigated. Closer attention to the dramatically expanded sea trade after 1850 and the relatively uncontrolled movement of people, ideas and goods which occurred on them, despite claims of imperial regulation, suggests that significant numbers of Indians among others entered Australia outside the immigration restrictions of empire or settlers. Given that many of them entered or remained in Australia without official sanction, their histories will not be found in the official immigration records, but rather in the memories and momentos of the communities into which they might have moved. Exploring the histories of Aboriginal communities and of maritime working class networks does allow a previously unwritten history to emerge: not only of Indian individuals with complex personal and working histories, but often as activists in the campaigns against racial discrimination and in support of decolonization. Yet their heritage has been obscured. The polarizing conflict between settlers and Aboriginal Australians has invariably meant that Aboriginal people of mixed background had to `choose sides to be counted simplistically as either `black or `white. The need to defend the communitys rights has meant that Aboriginal people had to be unequivocal in their identification and this simplification has had to take precedence over the assertion of a diverse heritage. In working class histories, the mobilization of selective ethnic stereotyping has meant that the history of Indians as workers, as unionists and as activists has been distorted and ignored.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/10622