A Social History of Medicine
Aprajita Sarcar
HEALTH, MEDICINE, AND MIGRATION: THE FORMATION OF INDENTURED LABOUR c. 1834-1920 by Madhwi Primus Books, Delhi, 2020, 396 pp., 1395.00
December 2022, volume 46, No 12

Before jumping into analysing the book’s strengths, it is important to highlight the complexity of this project. Tracing a transnational project like the movement of labouring bodies across oceans, while being a scholar in a middle-income country is a feat. While the subjects of this book may be Indians, looking for their archival traces would require transcending national boundaries—something that not many early career scholars find possible. Madhwi finds the material or physical bodies of indentured migrants through archives across different parts of India and the UK. This persistent and patient trait is commendable. More such historical narratives are needed that stitch state archives and the British Library (among others) together. The outcome of such persistence is that we realize how state and municipal archives in India are sitting on transnational subjects and can possibly be repositories of global histories.

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