Colonial ‘free labor’ ideology redefined contractual bondage as voluntary choice

Evidence

”Free labor,” based in colonial assumptions about freedom and the necessity of work, and the paired category of ”bonded labor,” which tied work to contractual service, were important terms in conceptualizing the indentured workforce. The idea of freedom to work was constructed in opposition to the outlawed practice of forced enslavement and presupposed the free will of the individual to enter into a work arrangement that o√ered a wage. The responsibility was thus placed on workers to enter into bonded agreements; the bond or contract, in turn, transformed indentured labor into a mutually agreed arrangement in which remuneration that usually included wages, housing, transport, food, and other necessary goods were promised in exchange for the timely completion of mandated work. — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 473 (#expands, via linked claim)

In the early colonial period, indentured labor was defined as temporary work and restricted by the state to periods of about five years. As experiments with this form of labor continued, it became clear that indentured labor easily blurred into an informal and unregulated economy even under the aegis of contractual guarantees and protections (Carter 1995; Kale 1998; Lal 1983; Look Lai 1993; Ramdin 2000; Tinker 1974, 1977). — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 459 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Colonial ‘free labor’ ideology redefined bonded servitude as a voluntary contract. — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims: Race and Labor in…, 473; Republican free-labor ideology coexisted with systematic forced labor in French West Africa — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 743; Colonial indenture created the template for neoliberal contracting and subcontracting — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims: Race and Labor in…, 458 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Colonial ‘free labor’ ideology redefined bonded servitude as a voluntary contract. #expands (1.00) — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 473
• Colonial indentured labor blurred into informal economies despite contract protections #complicates (0.72) — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 459