Country: Suriname

Group: Hindustani

Finalized Date: 11/7/2020

Team: Johanna McCombs (Lead), Ethan Pelland, Ann Thomas

Content Warning: slavery

Approximate Time Period: 1873-1917

Ample Evidence suggests that  the Hindustani in Suriname experienced forced labor.

The Hindustani are descendants of indentured laborers from India (Dodge, 1966).  From 1873 to 1917, approximately 34,300 indentured laborers were imported from British India, through an agreement between British and Dutch Colonial Authorities (Hoefte, 1987). Similar to Jamaica, British Guyana and other Caribbean colonies the basis of the importation of East Indian Indentured Laborers intended to make up for the loss of slave labor after the colonies abolished slavery (Lewis, 1994). Hindustani were transported to the capital of Suriname, Paramaribo to work primarily for planters (Van der Kroef, 1951). Transportation and labor of the Hindustani was under contract (Van der Kroef, 1951). The workers were required to work for the plantation owner for five years (Academy, n.d.). After the fulfillment of their contracts, Hindustani laborers could stay in Suriname to pursue other economic and social opportunities and gradually over time the Hindustani moved to Suriname’s growing cities (Lewis, 1994).

The data quality is a 2, the sources were reliable and there was no conflicting information, but there were a limited number of sources.

Sources

  1. Dodge, P. (1966). Ethnic Fragmentation and Politics: The Case of Surinam. Political Science Quarterly, 81(4), 593–601. https://doi.org/10.2307/2146907
  2. Hoefte, R. (1987). CONTROL AND RESISTANCE: INDENTURED LABOR IN SURINAME. Nieuwe West-Indische Gids / New West Indian Guide, 61(1/2), 1-22. Retrieved October 28, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41849265
  3. Lewis, L. (1994). Ethnicity And Nation-building: The Surinamese Experience. Caribbean Quarterly, 40(3/4), 72-83. Retrieved October 28, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40653906
  4. van der Kroef, J. M. (1951). The Indonesian Minority in Surinam. American Sociological Review, 16(5), 672–679. https://doi.org/10.2307/2087361