What is it about?
The Makranis were brought to Sindh to work on the railways at the end of the 19th century in British India. What was their fate when their labor was no longer needed? Who in the Sindhi countryside spoke up for them and who wanted them out of sight? This paper uses this case to shed light on broader structures of dispossession and racialization in colonial Sindh.
Featured Image
Photo by Muneer ahmed ok on Unsplash
Why is it important?
We tend to see large-scale public infrastructure projects as universal goods -- transporting peoples and lands into the future and creating prosperity for all. These views were shared by the colonial government in the 19th century. This paper sheds light on the human stories and struggles behind these technological utopias. It was not wages and railways but belonging, community support, and rights to land that guaranteed survival in the Sindhi countryside.
Perspectives
This article was truly a passion project -- drawn from a file that I came across while doing historical research in the little studied region of Sindh in modern day Pakistan. The bravery and dignity of the Makrani Jamait in the face of dominant structures of capitalism, empire, bureaucracy, and local forms of exclusion felt important on multiple levels. It's an absolute pleasure to have this article out in the world.
Mishal Khan
University of California College of Law, San Francisco
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: After the Railways Are Built: Makrani Labor and Illegible Claims to Land and Belonging in Sindh, Journal of Sindhi Studies, February 2023, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/26670925-bja10011.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
