Seeds of Solidarity : African-Indian Relations and the 1935 Labor Rebellions in British Guiana

This book examines how colonial subjects of African and Indian descent forged seeds of solidarity in 1930s British Guiana. It is for students and scholars interested in Caribbean history, Diaspora studies, studies of colonialism and empire, labor movements, gender studies, and environmental crisis.

Seeds of Solidarity is a study of British Guiana amid a wave of Caribbean uprisings that brought modern politics to colonial spaces during the 1930s. It explores the historical power of a movement forged by people at the edges of empire during economic, political, and environmental crises. African- and Indian-Guianese youth, women, and men who worked on sugar plantations led a series of labor uprisings, despite attempts to turn these racialized communities against each other. Rather than erasing identities, their 'overlapping diasporas' signify how solidary can emerge without sameness, and how this process challenged the British Empire and reshaped Caribbean politics. This important work unites Caribbean history, African Diaspora and South Asian Diaspora studies, histories of racial capitalism and labor movements, gender studies, and the politics of colonialism and empire in the post-indenture period. It offers a model of resistance in today's era of deepening racial and economic inequality, fascism, and climate emergency.