The Girmitiya Peasants in Suriname: Agrarian and Economic Transformations in a Plantation Society

This book examines the Indo-Surinamese Girmitiya peasants and their contributions to developing the ethnic community within their newly adopted home. It demonstrates the transformation of the Girmitiyas from agriculturalists in British India to plantation labourers to peasants and finally to urban dwellers.

The author argues that it was the Girmitiya peasants who had made greater contributions to developing the ethnic community over the labourers of whom about one-third returned to British ...