Podcast Summary: New Books Network

Episode: Kalathmika Natarajan, Coolie Migrants, Indian Diplomacy: Caste, Class and Indenture Abroad, 1914-67 (Oxford UP, 2026)
Date: November 2, 2025
Host: Stuti Roy
Guest: Dr. Kalathmika Natarajan

Overview

This episode features Dr. Kalathmika Natarajan discussing her groundbreaking book, Coolie Migrants, Indian Diplomacy. The work recasts the history of Indian diplomacy through the prism of caste and labor, arguing that the figure of the "coolie" and the legacy of indentured labor migration are central to understanding the formation and practices of Indian diplomatic networks. Through a multidisciplinary approach, the book uncovers the anxieties, hypocrisies, and mechanisms by which India's caste hierarchies have shaped its international engagement from World War I through the late 1960s and into the present.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Dr. Natarajan's Scholarly Journey

• Background & Motivation ([04:50])
  • Started with international relations, shaped by her upbringing in Chennai.
  • Influenced by experiences in hierarchical, top-down think tanks, leading to a pursuit of "bottom-up" approaches to diplomacy.
  • Engaged with archives in Chennai and observed a much more explicit connection between caste, migration, and Indian diplomacy in regional archives compared to more "official" Delhi repositories.

"I was always interested in a sort of historical approach to IR... trying to understand the so-called unlikely sites of Indian diplomacy." —Natarajan ([04:50])

The Figure & Term “Coolie”

• Genealogy & Meaning ([07:27])
  • "Coolie" derives from the Tamil "kuli" (wages); signifies labor reduced to payment, dehumanizing.
  • The term is racialized and gendered; often visually conjures male laborers but encompasses women’s experiences too.
  • Painful and contested both as a slur among laborers’ descendants and as a mark of anxiety among caste elites.
  • Gandhi equated being called “coolie” abroad to being called “untouchable” at home, showing intense caste/race overlap.

“The word coolie is read as a caste-based slur... at one point, Gandhi even translates the word coolie as meaning what an untouchable means to us.” —Natarajan ([07:27])

Caste, Anxiety, and Indian Diplomacy

Anxiety as a Political Emotion

• The "coolie" figure caused reputational anxiety for Indian elites, leading to efforts to sanitize migration and privilege "respectable" (elite, upper-caste) Indians as the face of the nation internationally ([12:15]).
• Nehru’s fear of India "sinking to the coolie ranks among nations" typifies this:

“[This was] an explicit identification of India's subjugated, colonized and in many ways emasculated status with the figure of the coolie migrant.” —Natarajan ([12:15])

Contradictions in Elite Nationalist Campaigns

• Anti-indentured-labor movements driven more by the wish to control national "reputation" and restrict lower-caste mobility than genuine concern for exploitation ([21:01]).
• Moral panic, particularly over "promiscuous" indentured women, galvanized both nationalist elites and reformers.

"...they want an end to the mobility of these laborers alongside an end to indenture, I think is the smoking gun... as to what exactly is the purpose of these movements." —Natarajan ([22:30])

Historical Sites: Mandapam Quarantine Camp

• Viaduct and Health Regulation ([23:34])
  • Mandapam quarantine camps (built 1914-15) became flashpoints for caste tension when caste elites were made to undergo the same conditions as coolie migrants.
  • Caste was named openly in protests: caste elites objected to “breakdown of social order” due to enforced proximity.

“Here... caste is explicit in the archive. They literally, literally say it. I'm not even sort of inferring anything from it.” —Natarajan ([26:37])

Class and Caste Conflation

• Upper-caste migrants could also be "coolies" economically, but the category itself was “read” as lower-caste in the state—thus, anxiety and sometimes envy about the easy overseas mobility accessible to labor migrants ([30:33]).

Caste and Indian Diplomacy Abroad

• South Africa & Gandhi ([32:19])
  • South Africa was central to establishing Indian diplomatic priorities, especially race-based advocacy.
  • Anti-caste activists like M.C. Raja criticized Indian elites for protesting racism abroad while overlooking caste oppression at home ([32:19]).
  • The first diplomatic agents focused on labor/caste issues; “proto-diplomatic” appointments came from the Madras Labor Department, originally mandated to assist the "depressed classes."

“...I find it very strange that caste elites are going on and on about oppression of Indians in South Africa when they haven't lifted a finger to help those of us who are facing conditions of servitude in India.” —Natarajan paraphrasing M.C. Raja ([32:19])

Managing the Diaspora: Pedagogic Diplomacy and Control

• India’s Approach to the Caribbean Diaspora ([46:35])
  • Contrary to claims of "abandonment," India worked to establish diplomatic commissions in the Caribbean to shape post-indenture communities, aiming to teach or "civilize" their descendants and maintain cultural hegemony.
  • The old diaspora ("coolie" laborers) was treated with a mixture of shame and didacticism; the state preferred to champion the new, skilled, affluent diaspora.

“...they try to do something similar with the post-indenture communities in the Caribbean as well through this form of pedagogic diplomacy.” —Natarajan ([46:35])

Restricting Mobility: The Discretionary Passport

• Passport as a Badge of Respectability ([50:53])
  • Until 1967, Indian passports were issued on a discretionary basis—primarily to the "worthy and respectable."
  • Legacy of the colonial system, which privileged elite mobility; laborers/migrants traveled with alternate documents.
  • This system stratified the diaspora, privileging NRIs (especially in the West) over descendants of indenture or poorer migrants.

“...the Indian state uses [the passport] as the same logic that underpins their anxieties... to prevent passports being given to those that they deemed unworthy of traveling abroad as representatives of India.” —Natarajan ([51:46])

Enduring Legacies and Modern Resonances

• Orange passports proposal (2017) as a “second-class” document for unskilled laborers illustrates the continuity of caste/class-based mobility control ([53:54]).
• Restriction on scholarships for marginalized students in humanities/social sciences reflects a renewed anxiety about anti-caste activism and international critique ([57:30]).

Public Health, Sanitation, and Diplomacy in the UK

• Migrant Houses in Birmingham ([58:59])
  • Indian diplomats were asked by British authorities to "teach" migrants cleanliness and public behavior, echoing both colonial and casteist tropes linking hygiene to worth.
  • Sanitation and health used as proxies for caste and racial difference without being explicitly named.

Internationalization of Caste

• Caste as a World Problem ([60:58])
  • Ambedkar’s 1916 prediction: "If Hindus migrate to other regions on earth, Indian caste would become a world problem."
  • Indian state continues to frame caste discrimination as a “domestic” issue, resisting its recognition as racism on the international stage.
  • Recent deportations and denial of visas to anti-caste activists mark ongoing anxieties about international scrutiny.

Decentering Diplomacy: Methodology and Marginal Spaces

• Centering the Margins ([67:39])
  • Natarajan intentionally chose non-conventional diplomatic sites—small camps, quarantine spaces, archives in regional languages—to recover submerged narratives.
  • This approach helps highlight voices of migrants and anti-caste activists, not just elite diplomats.

“It was just decentering the archival lens was very freeing and it helped me write a history of diplomacy which would not just center caste, but also ensure that the migrants are not just subjects or recipients or problems of diplomacy, but that their voice is heard...” —Natarajan ([67:39])

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On the pain of the label:

  • “This is a term that is a painful one for descendants of laborers, but is also a painful one for caste elites because of their anxiety of being enveloped in this broad categorization...” ([07:27])

• On diplomacy’s hypocrisy:

  • “I think the most interesting thing for me here was the ways in which there's a kind of pitting of race against caste that happens quite a lot...” —Natarajan ([41:22])

• On seeking a diaspora for state legitimacy:

  • “There was this idea that we have to impart... knowledge to societies and people who are more backward in some sort of hierarchy that they've created for themselves.” ([50:03])

• On the Indian state’s discomfort with labor migration to the West:

  • "...labor migration to the west [is] far more anxiety inducing for themselves than to other regions where they're not quite worried about the impact on their reputation." ([56:49])

• On contemporary anti-caste international struggles:

  • “Anti-caste resistance is also getting more and more international and... there are historical precedents to it. But yeah, I think that's also in some ways the way forward.” ([62:05])

Timestamps for Major Segments

• [04:50] Dr. Natarajan’s background and motivations
• [07:27] The genealogy and politics of the term "coolie"
• [12:15] Caste anxiety and politics in Indian diplomatic history
• [23:34] Mandapam quarantine camp; intersections of caste, mobility, and public health
• [32:19] South Africa, M.C. Raja, Gandhi, and the invisibilization of caste abroad
• [41:22] Nehru, reputation, and internal contradictions of post-colonial diplomacy
• [46:35] Pedagogic diplomacy and the making of the Indian diaspora
• [50:53] Discretionary passports, stratified mobility, and postcolonial continuities
• [58:59] Migrant houses in Birmingham; public health as proxy for caste
• [60:58] Internationalizing caste: Ambedkar’s warning, diaspora activism, and state denial
• [67:39] Decentering the archive: methodology and centering the margins
• [71:49] Book recommendations and further reading in the field

Concluding Recommendations

Dr. Natarajan recommends books for further reading on indenture, migration, and anti-caste resistance, including works by Jonathan Connolly, Poorba Hossain, Gayatri Bahadur ("A Coolie Woman"), and Suraj Yengde ("A Global Story") ([71:49]).

Overall Tone:
Engaged, critical, and deeply reflective. The conversation expertly exposes silenced or marginalized histories in Indian diplomacy and foregrounds their continued relevance—both within India and across its global diaspora. The tone is empathetic to the subjects while sharply critical of elite hypocrisy and statecraft.