The Coolie Trade: The Traffic in Chinese Laborers to Latin America 1847-1874 - Couverture souple

Meagher, Arnold J.

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1436309425 ISBN 13 : 9781436309424

Editeur : Xlibris, 2008

Synopsis

The Coolie Trade The phenomenon of indentured labor, which followed upon the abolition of slavery, spread throughout the Western world in the latter two-thirds of the nineteenth century, appearing in such far-flung places as Mauritius, South Africa, Latin America, Australia, Malaya, and the Fiji Islands. Indentured labor, i.e., labor contracted under penal sanctions, was essentially a compulsory system of labor, which in practice differed little from slavery. Unlike slaves, indentured workers were supposed to receive a monthly wage, and their term of service, at least in principle, was for a fixed period of from five to eight years; but these provisions were not always adhered to, and in all other respects, indentured workers were no better off than the slaves they replaced. The widespread appearance of indentured labor is not adequately accounted for by either of the two major schools of thought in the controversy over the downfall of slavery. If the primary motivations for the abolition of slavery were humanitarian, then why did humanitarians look the other way when slave owners resorted to another form of forced labor in the system of indenture? If, on the other hand, the abolition of slavery was an economic consequence of the rise of industrialism and capitalism, as Eric Williams in his Capitalism and Slavery would have us believe, then why did the same factors, which rejected forced African labor, so easily accept forced Chinese and Indian labor? Did the principles of humanitarianism not also extend to the peoples of Asia? Or did some latent racism preclude "Asiatics" (as Chinese and Indians were called), or at least preclude them from being defended with the same vigor as Africans? Or, lulled into a false sense of security and accomplishment, were humanitarians taken in by the trappings of indenture-the written contract, the monthly wage, and the limitation on the period of service? The latter could be an out for the humanitarian interpretation of the abolitio

A propos du livre

Biographie de l'auteur

The author grew up in Ireland's heartland and immigrated to the United States in 1957 when he was twenty-four years old. He got a PhD in Latin American History from the University of California, Davis Campus. For a short while, he taught history at the University of Houston, Clearlake campus; but for most of his career, he worked in communications and proposal writing for the business world. He lives with his wife, Jackie Devlin, in Eufaula, Alabama.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Xlibris
• Date d'édition: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1436309425
• ISBN 13: 9781436309424
• Reliure: Broché
• Langue: anglais
• Nombre de pages: 486
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible