Screening-debate: film "Histoires d'engagisme" by Joy Banerjee. Session 4 of the South Asia in images and debate cycle: India/Overseas in images and debate

Histories of engagism

by Joy Banerjee, India l 2021 l 52 mn l VO (French)

Topic: The Indian diaspora: between the quest for identity and contemporary strategies

Summary: From 1815 onwards, sugarcane planters, supported by the French administration, gradually replaced slaves with a new workforce known as "engagés". Immigration to Reunion and the French West Indies intensified after the abolition of slavery in 1848. Many Indians, poor and illiterate, signed 5-year contracts and embarked for unknown lands, where they were often treated like slaves.

Histoires d'engagisme gives voice to the descendants of Indian engagés on Réunion and Guadeloupe who want to keep alive the memory of their ancestors. Historians shed light on this dark and little-known period of French colonization.

Debate

• Joy Banerjee (journalist and director)
• Anne Viguier (Lecturer in history at Inalco, specialist in modern and contemporary Indian history)
• Ingrid Therwath (Journalist, India specialist)

The debate will question the role and strategies of the Indian diaspora, the largest in the world, between the quest for identity and relaying India's soft power.

Free admission.
Contact: Ornella Puschiasis - ornella.puschiasis@inalco.fr

Watch the video "Histoires d'engagisme"