About Emotional Encounters: Indian Indenture
Join us for the chance to view elements of the Library’s collection relating to histories of Indian indenture, then take part in creative and participatory activities.
The Black and Asian Therapy Network (BAATN) has been running for over 20 years. It is home to the UK’s largest community of Black, African, Asian and Caribbean counsellors and psychotherapists who specialise in working psychologically, informed by an understanding of intersectionality.
This workshop, led by a member of BAATN of Indian indentured heritage, seeks to engage with this aspect of history through a psychological and exploratory lens. The workshop will consider how the material resonates on a personal and collective emotional level.
Expression of interest – This workshop is aimed at individuals who have an interest in Indian indenture labour histories. When registering for the event, in no more than 300 words please can you explain why you are interested in taking part in this workshop.
Image: Frederick Fiebig Collection: Views in Mauritius. British Library. c. 1853
More information
About the events
Tuesday 8 July 2025 – Archival Gaps, Silences and Omissions: Belonging and the Legacy of Indian Indentureship
Led by Michelle Rodrigues
How do we locate a sense of belonging when the narratives of our ancestors were silenced, erased or never recorded? What happens to memory when the past leaves no trace?
- This workshop invites descendants of Indian indentureship, and those drawn to the questions of fragmented and oppressed histories, to reflect on the emotional legacies of gaps, silences and omissions in the archives
- through themes of not knowing, lostness and erasure, we will consider how the absence of familial or historical records shapes our identities, our sense of (un)belonging and our connections to place, history and one another
- this is a participatory and reflective space, offering the chance to engage with original artefacts and documents from the Library’s collection, and to explore creative, tactile processes as a way of meeting the absences
- together, we will attune to what remains beyond the archive – what is held in the body, the senses and the soul
- no artistic experience is needed. Just a willingness to sit with uncertainty, listen inwardly, and imagine otherwise.
Friday 18 July 2025
Led by Vedia Maharaj
More information coming soon.
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