Bonded Labour

After slavery, schemes of indentured labour stilled global capitalism's need for cheap, disposable labour. The famous coolie trade -- mainly Asian labourers transferred to colonial Africa, the Caribbean, the Americas, as well as to the Arab world -- was one of the largest migration movements in global history. Indentured contract workers are perhaps the most revealing example of bonded labour in the grey area between the poles of chattel slavery and free wage labour. This interdisciplinary volume addresses historically and regionally specific cases of unfree labour relations from the 18th century until today.