For our final reflection, we all wrote a paragraph each to summarise our general thoughts and experiences on the project. Why we chose this topic, how we worked as a team and the progress weve made over the past few weeks.
Bilqees:
As an Indo-Trinidadian young woman whose great-grandfather
was an indentured labourer from Bihar, having arrived to work in Trinidad in
1873, this was the most illuminating project I've undertaken as it relates to Indo-Caribbean
history. I think society is generally given a brief, reductive outline of what
indentureship was in the context of the Caribbean. There is a disconnect
between our idealized tropical modern-day reality and the harsh history that
its backdrop. Little Indo-Trinidadian people know the socio-economic state of
British India that even led to the indentureship programme (or, scheme) that
brought hundreds of thousands of Indians to the Caribbean. In working on the
excerpt from Espinet's "The Swinging Bridge", I was able to
comprehensively understand the stages of the journey from India to the West
Indies (and beyond) that so many of my forefathers took in the pursuit of a
better life, of the romantic greener pastures that they were sure awaited them
across the kala pani. By extension, I learnt a lot about myself and my place in
the Caribbean through doing research for and engaging with the chosen texts, an
invaluable experience that was made better by collaborating with the students
from UCD. I found the collaboration to be quite engaging. Our group met
all the deadlines with very few hiccups and communicated multiple times weekly
to share research updates and gain feedback on the work done. The main
difficulty we faced was managing the new digital tools which were often
complicated, but with enough practice (and trial and error), we figured out how
to use them. It was a pleasure working with the UCD girls.
Lilac:
I found the topic of indentured labour very interesting, as it is rarely taught in schools. It was very interesting to approach it from a member of the Indo-Caribbean diaspora in Canada (Ramabai Espinet). I really enjoyed the concept of storymaps, I enjoyed using it and thought the way it is able to represent a journey through space is great, particularly for the topic of our group. Finally, one of the highlights of this module was being able to work with students from Trinidad. Even though just online, we were able to collaborate efficiently and bring all our thoughts and ideas together to research and present a topic we were all interested in.
Georgia:
I originally chose to do this module because it was an aspect of history that I knew very little about, as histories of immigration not related to Ireland are not really taught in Irish schools. I found the idea of the Kala Pani and indentured labour the most compelling of all the topics we studied as part of this module, because of how similar but different it is to Irish stories of emigration and indentured labour.
I loved the chance to focus on The Swinging Bridge as it acted as a window into a new viewpoint of history (the focus on women and their journeys of indentureship) and its ripple effect on the modern-day (Mona and her family, living in the 2000s). The depiction of the Kala Pani in The Swinging Bridge fascinated me, partly because of the reasons I have described above, but also because it reminded me a lot of my own family and their histories. Being Irish, emigration is a huge part of our culture, to the point that the Irish can claim a diaspora community in almost every country, and the majority of the stories I would have been told by my parents and grandparents as a child involved migration on some level. I was also fascinated by the Kala Pani because it is, at its core, a story that is present throughout history. Finding out the literal meaning of the term reminded me of a song that children learn in Irish schools, Trasna na dTonnta (meaning 'across the waves'). Originally a song about returning home after a long voyage, it eventually came to symbolise everything that Irish emigrants would be leaving behind, as they, like many indentured labourers who undertook the Kala Pani, would be leaving everything they had known before, and, which they would likely never return to.
I also loved doing this project because I got the chance to meet and work with really amazing people, who all had such great ideas and perspectives for the project. Everyone was so lovely and fantastic to work with, and I'm so happy I got the chance to meet everyone.
Viktoria:
Each final reflection reveals the unique ways in which the project impacted us. In the creation of both the story-map and blog discussing the topic, I faced technological issues with my laptop alongside a bit of difficulty navigating the story map website. At one point, the file was corrupted and could not be viewed. Yet, these proved to be minor issues in the fulfillment of my portion of the project. I enjoyed my time working with this group, as all members contributed equally to creation of the assignment despite the time differences and the load of coursework assignments.
Personally, extensive research on Indentured Labourers has furthered my understanding of the systems's true nature. Though, the ordeal is taught within Trinidadian classrooms, crucial details are often erased in its recounting, which assign indentured labourers passive and willing roles. Knowledge of the deceptive practices and restrictive regulations that governed the lives of these immigrants have fostered a sense of admiration for their endurance. So then, I believe a greater emphasis should be placed on the stories of these labourers as well as its effects on today's East Indian diaspora in order to properly remember and honour those that took such a perilous journey.
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