Contemporary India and South Africa: legacies, identities, dilemmas ed. by Sujata Patel and Tina Uys (review)

Since the 1990s there has been greater cooperation and dialogue between scholars in the humanities in India and South Africa. The 2010 commemorations marking 150 years since the first arrival of indentured labourers in South Africa from India brought together scholars from various disciplines in both countries at a conference at the University of Johannesburg. This book arises out of that conference. It is divided into three parts, with chapters that focus on indenture and the commemorations, contemporary issues such as the extent and successes (or lack of success) of democracy, education and environmental policies, and, finally, the ties at state level between the two countries and projects of mutual cooperation.

There are strong chapters on the commemorations that highlight issues of identity and some of the questions that emerged during the commemorations – what should be commemorated, who should lead the process, and how this should be done. Drawing on one of the crucial questions that emerged among organizations wishing to commemorate the event, Goolam Vahed and Ashwin Desai discuss whether indenture was akin to slavery and make a strong case against that argument. Brij Maharaj’s chapter focuses on the role of the ANC-led South African government and the Indian government in lending support for the commemorations, pointing to the very conservative influence of the latter, which was strongly focused on elites. He argues that while the commemorations played a role in highlighting the ‘South Africanness’ of Indians, it somehow also reflected old boundaries between Indians and Africans as well as older divisions among Indians along linguistic and religious lines. Vally’s chapter is a nicely focused study of how the commemorations were observed in Laudium, the former Indian group area in Pretoria, where the emphasis was on unity, local history and a shared history of dispossession. Lubna Nadvi explores the contemporary struggles of hawkers and morning market traders (traditional occupations of the freed indentured workers) with Durban City Council. Mariam Seedat-Khan focuses on indentured women and draws on the existing historiography, although it is a pity that the interviews she held with twenty women are not reflected much in this piece. One of the gems in this collection is a chapter by V. Geetha. She draws on Tamil literature, such as fictional short stories, biographies and weekly publications, to explore how indenture featured in the imagination of Indians. She highlights unknown figures rather than the better-known nationalist leaders of the Indian National Congress and addresses issues of caste and gender that the latter often silenced.

The middle part of the book focuses on democratic transitions and issues that have surfaced in both countries. Janis Grobbelaar provides a useful account of South Africa’s transition and focuses especially on the limits of restorative justice in the Truth and Reconciliation process. Adam Habib’s bold essay attempts to provide some solutions for how the South African state could become more responsive to the poor and marginalized. Ujjwal Kumar Singh discusses Indian democracy and examines how one measures democracy – he argues for the need to move beyond elections and the entrenchment of constitutionalism and to focus on governance. Chapters by Padma Velaskar and Anita Rampal on primary and secondary education in India are followed by a chapter on higher education in South Africa by Derek van der Merwe and chapters by Kalpana Sharma and Mahesh Rangarajan on environmental and conservation policies in India.

While these individual chapters provide useful overviews and critiques, this middle section reveals one of the limitations of the book. The editors argue that the two countries have faced similar contemporary issues and that the book is inspired by a desire to draw comparisons. Yet we have no chapters, for instance, on South Africa’s conservation policies and none on India’s higher education system. Nearly all these chapters are nationally bound and are unable in themselves to provide a comparative framework...