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This book focuses on the spatial experiences of Indian indentured labourers in Mauritius and Fiji and reveals previously unexplored labour movements across the so-called Indentured Archipelago. It offers a historical geographical perspective of the lives of these labourers in Mauritius and Fiji, situating their experiences in the wider context of spatial mobility and subaltern agency. The concept of re-migration - labourers moving between these colonies, and beyond - is explored, and the scale of this facet of indentured life is revealed, in a way which has not been done to date. It brings to the fore a debate on subaltern agency, and role of geography in exploring the lives of these labourers both within and between colonies. The book also brings to light the numerous proposals for the use of Indian indentured labour across the globe, highlighting the centrality of Indian indenture to the post-abolition labour discourse.

In this short essay, the author examines the influence of the concept of Coolitude on his understanding of the Indian indenture experience. Parallels between patterns of immigration are alluded to – whether the indentured immigration of the nineteenth and early twentieth century or post-colonial immigration from those sugar colonies of empire to their former metropoles. Coolitude's recognition of the role of space and place is at the fore and the author asks us to take this into account in our exploration of the global indentured story, making the case for a more concentrated address of the geography of indenture.