This paper positions Calcutta (Kolkata) not only as a key site for the practical implementation of the indentured labour system, but as a key arena for discussion and negotiation of, and resistance to, this form of labour migration. It analyses debates on indenture as they took place in the colonial capital between 1836 and 1842, exploring their influence on the colonial policies and regulations that came to govern the system throughout the British Empire. In so doing, it highlights how the coming together of economic, humanitarian, political, and imperial agendas in debates around the so-called ‘coolie question’ helped shape the global indentured system. By exploring Calcutta’s interactions with the indentured question and the influence of discussions in Calcutta on metropolitan debates and decisions, the paper considers how Calcutta functioned as a colonial capital within wider imperial networks. Drawing on recent studies that perceive the empire as a web, with nodes located at the metropole, colonial capitals, ports, entrepôts, and other interacting centres within the empire, it will seek to rethink Calcutta’s position within this system, and thus contribute to understanding how nodes of the Empire interacted outside strict binary divisions of colony and metropole.

中文翻译：

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殖民地首都的抗议：加尔各答和全球契约论辩论，1836-42

本文将加尔各答（加尔各答）不仅定位为契约劳工制度实际实施的关键地点，而且定位为讨论、谈判和抵制这种形式的劳务移民的关键场所。它分析了 1836 年至 1842 年间在殖民首都发生的契约辩论，探讨了它们对整个大英帝国制度的殖民政策和法规的影响。这样做，它突出了经济、人道主义、政治和帝国议程在围绕所谓的“苦力问题”的辩论中如何帮助塑造了全球契约制度。通过探索加尔各答与契约问题的互动以及加尔各答讨论对大都市辩论和决策的影响，该论文考虑了加尔各答如何在更广泛的帝国网络中发挥殖民首都的作用。借鉴最近的研究，将帝国视为一个网络，节点位于帝国内的大都市、殖民首都、港口、转口港和其他相互作用的中心，它将寻求重新思考加尔各答在这个系统中的位置，从而有助于理解帝国的节点如何在严格的殖民地和大都市二元划分之外相互作用。