Abstract: This article examines the relationship between Indian indentured workers and plantation ecologies in Mauritius and British Guiana. Bound to the land by harsh colonial labour regulations, the indentured workers were brutally exposed to the ecological volatility of plantation production. At the same time, indentured labourers cultivated plants besides sugarcane in an effort to sustain a life independent of the canefields. The article explores indentured planting practices on the plantation margins, tracing a history of political and ecological struggle as estate labourers forged alternatives to the plantation economy, while navigating colonial strategies to pull them back into the orbit of the estates.
Ben Jacob (2025) studied this question.