Bibliographical note and further reading

From the book: A Documentary History of Indian South Africans edited by Surendra Bhana and Bridglal Pachai

For the serious researcher investigating any aspect of the history of indentured Indians, the Indian Immigration records (I.I.) in the Natal Archives are essential. There are also valuable printed sources: in the annual reports of the Protector of Indian Immigrants and the Indian Immigration Trust Board. The documents we have included from the I.I. series are representative of the kind of material the researcher will find. We have also drawn from other series, the number of which will indicate how widely scattered the records are: in the Natal Archives, Government House (G.H.), Prime Minister's Office (P.M.O.), Colonial Secretary's Office (C.S.O.), and the Secretary of State for the Colonies (C.O.); in the Transvaal Archives, we found material in the series Staatssekretaris (S.S.), Governor's Private Secretary (Gov. P.S.), Lieutenant-Governor (L.T.G.), and others. Local records, housed in provincial government archives, should yield fascinating details about the experience of Indians in towns and cities.

Agenda books of various political organisations make up a considerable portion of the material we have used in Part II. Much of it is in the hands of individual collectors, but these sources are gradually finding their way into public and university libraries and documentation centres, either in their original form or as photocopies.

The experience of Indian South Africans should not be viewed in isolation from general developments. The student is referred to the better known general works, among which are the following:

E. H. Brookes and C. de B. Webb, A History of Natal (Pietermaritzburg, 1965); T. R. H. Davenport, South Africa: A Modern History(Johannesburg, 1977); C. W. de Kiewiet, A History of South Africa, Social and Economic(London, 1966); D. J. N. Denoon, South Africa Since 1800(London, 1972); C. F. J. Muller (ed.), Five Hundred Years: A History of South Africa (Pretoria, 1977); H. J. and R. E. Simons, Class and Colour in South Africa, 1850-1950 (Harmondsworth, 1969); M. Wilson and L. M. Thompson (eds.), The Oxford History of South Africa, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1969, 1971); F. A. van Jaarsveld, From Van Riebeeck to Vorster, 1652-1974: An Introduction to the History of the Republic of South Africa(Johannesburg, 1975).

General works that deal specifically with Indians include:

Anthony J. Arkin, 'The Contribution of the Indians in the Economic Development of South Africa, 1806-1970: An Historical- Income Approach' (Ph.D., Univ. of Durban-Westville, 1981); G. H. Calpin, Indians in South Africa(Pietermaritzburg, 1949); Frene Ginwala, 'Class, Consciousness and Control: Indian South Africans, 1860-1946' (D.Phil., Oxford, 1976); P. S. Joshi,The Tyranny of Colour: A Study of the Indian Problem in South Africa (Durban, 1942); Fatima Meer, Portrait of Indian South Africans (Durban, 1969); A. L. Muller: 'Die Ekonomiese Posisie van die Asiaat in Suid-Afrika en Enkele Ander Gebiede in Afrika' (D.Comm., Univ. of Stellenbosch, 1963); Bridglal Pachai, The International Aspects of the South African Indian Question, 1860-1971(Cape Town, 1971), and Pachai (ed.), South Africa's Indians: The Evolution of a Minority (Washington, 1979); Mabel Palmer, The History of the Indians in Natal(Cape Town, 1957).

Published and unpublished works on the indentured Indians are not numerous. The researcher can profitably investigate any number of aspects of the indentured system.

C. Kondapi's Indians Overseas 1839-1949(Bombay, 1951) and Hugh Tinker's A New System of Slavery: The Export of Indian Labour Overseas, 1830-1920(Oxford, 1974) place the whole system within a broader context and should be read as background material. Works that deal specifically with indentured Indians in South Africa include C. J. Beyers, 'Die Indiërvraagstuk in Natal, 1870-1911' (D. Litt., P.U.C.H.O., 1969); A. G. Choonoo, 'Indentured Indian Immigration into Natal, 1860-1911’ (M.A., Univ. of Natal, 1967); Y. S. Meer et al., Documents on Indentured Labour in Natal, 1851-1917(Durban, 1980); Z. A. Stein, 'A History of Indian Settlement in Natal, 1870-1893' (M.A., Univ. of Cape Town, 1942); L. M. Thompson, Indian Immigration into Natal, 1860-1872, Archives Year Book for South African History, 1952. Indian immigration is dealt with partly in E. Bradlow's 'Immigration into the Union, 1910-48: policies and attitudes' (Ph.D., U.C.T., 1978).

The literature on Gandhi is enormous.

A good place to start would be Gandhi's two autobiographies, Satyagraha in South Africa(Ahmedabad, 1928) and An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth(Ahmedabad, 1929). The first twelve volumes of the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi are excellent for reference purposes. Good, standard biographies have been written by Geoffrey Ashe, Gandhi: A Study in Revolution(New York, 1968); E. Erikson, Gandhi's Truth: On the Origins of Militant Nonviolence(London, 1970); B. R. Nanda, Mahatma Gandhi: A Biography(London, 1958); Pyarelal, Mahatma Gandhi: The Early Phase, vol. 1 (Ahmedabad, 1969), and Mahatma Gandhi: The Discovery of Satyagraha: On the Threshold, vol. 2 (Bombay, 1980); and D. G. Tendulkar, Mahatma: Life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, vols. 1-8 (1951-4). A new interpretation is offered in Maureen Tayal's 'Gandhi: The South African Experience' (D.Phil., Oxford, 1980).

J. B. Brain's The Christian Indians in Natal, 1860-1911(Cape Town, 1983) adds significantly to our knowledge of the early period. R. A. Huttenback followed up his 1971 study, Gandhi in South Africa: British Imperialism and the Indian Question, 1860-1914, with Racism and Empire: White Settlers and Colored Immigrants in the British Self-Governing Colonies, 1830-1910, published in 1976. Other works include B. Pillay, British Indians in the Transvaal: Trade, Race Relations and Imperial Policy in Republican and Colonial Transvaal (London, 1977); B. Pachai, The History of the Indian Opinion, 1903-1914, inArchives Year Book for South African History, 1963; and B. Sacks, South Africa, An Imperial Dilemma: Non-Europeans and the British Nation, 1902-1914(Albuquerque, 1967).

An important dimension of Indian South African politics in the interwar years was the creation of the Agency.

The Agent (upgraded later to Agent General and eventually to High Commissioner) represented the Indian Government, and acted as an intermediary between the South African Government and Indian South Africans. The following are appropriate works in this regard: J. E. Corbett, 'A Study of the Cape Town Agreement' (M.A., Univ. of Cape Town, 1947); T. N. Jagdisan, V.S. Srinivasa Sastri (New Delhi, 1969); Ahmad Shafa'at Khan, The Indians in South Africa(Allahabad, 1946); P. Kodanda Rao,The Right Honourable V.S. Srinivasa Sastri: A Political Biography (New Delhi, 1963); and Hugh Tinker, Separate and Unequal: India and Indians in the British Commonwealth, 1920-1956(New Delhi, 1976).

The following works covers Indian South African politics in the interwar period:

P. N. Agrawal, Bhawani Dayal Sannyasi: A Public Worker of South Africa(Etawah, 1939); G. H. Calpin, A.I. Kajee: His Work for the South African Indian Community(Durban, n.d.); E. Pahad, 'The Development of Indian Political Movements in South Africa, 1924-1946' (Ph.D., Univ. of Sussex, 1972); W. B. White, 'The Evolution of the Policy Towards the Indians in Natal, 1943-1948' (M.A., Univ. of Natal, 1982).

Indian politics after 1945are dealt with by R. E. Johnson, 'Indians and Apartheid in South Africa: The Failure of Resistance' (Ph.D., Univ. of Massachusetts, 1973) and L. Kuper's Passive Resistance in South Africa(New Haven, 1957). Gwendolen M. Carter's The Politics of Inequality: South Africa Since 1948(New York, 1977) and D. W. Kruger's South African Parties and Policies, 1910-1960(Cape Town, 1960) sketch the background to white politics.

For the Congress movement in the 1950s,the 4 volumes by T. Karis and G. M. Carter, From Protest to Challenge: Documents of African Politics in South Africa, 1882-1964, provide the necessary background information. Other works that are useful include Edward Feit, South Africa: The Dynamics of the African National Congress(London, 1962), C. J. B. Le Roux, 'Die Pan-Africanist Congress in Suid-Afrika, 1958-1964' (M.A., R.A.U., 1977), Tom Lodge, Black Politics in South Africa since 1945 (Johannesburg, 1983), and Peter Walshe, The Rise of African Nationalism in South Africa: The African National Congress, 1912-1952(London, 1970).