Abstract:

Biography

This talk explores the histories, journeys, and legacies of 'coolie' migrants as central to the making of Indian diplomacy. I argue that the Indian state framed the 'international' realm as a sanctified space to negotiate what it deemed the 'coolie stain' on its reputation, a discourse shaped by the intersections of caste and class. While examining indenture and the regulation of mobility as intrinsic to postcolonial Indian diplomacy, I also seek to foreground how these migrants themselves actively conceptualised their international status.

Biography: “I am a social and cultural historian of the modern Middle East. My work focuses on gender, sexuality, working classes, and popular culture. I have authored many academic publications, most notably Industrial Sexuality: Gender, Urbanization, and Social Transformation in Egypt from the UT Press 2016 and Unknown Past: Layla Murad, the Jewish-Muslim Star of Egypt from Stanford University Press.

Short biography: Pascal Menoret is the director of the Center for Economic, Legal, and Social Studies and Documentation in Cairo (CEDEJ) and the Renée and Lester Crown Professor of Modern Middle East Studies at Brandeis University, where he teaches in the Department of Anthropology. His research interests include infrastructure, urban planning, ecology, and energy. He has conducted field research in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt.