Understandings of Coloniality and precarity engagements amoungst Malayasian Indian and South African Indian women

Many Indians who arrived as indentured labourers in Malaysia, during British colonisation, continue to experience poverty and lag behind all other ethnic groups in terms of social mobility despite various attempts at ameliorating their social conditions through government and international aid programmes. Extensive research has documented the contemporary challenges experienced by Malaysian Indians in overcoming poverty. However, its connection to the historical foundations is yet to be explored. In a new transdisciplinary project, I intend to address this disconnection by applying interdisciplinary understandings of coloniality, precarity and resilience to the empirical study of intergenerational poverty transmission amongst Malaysian Indian women. As an extension to this project, I plan to co-develop a research collective of descendants of indentured labour migrants in South Africa to focus on similar social issues that may have arisen from the colonial administration of South Indian labourers here. In turn, I hope to facilitate solidarity-building between Malaysian…