Parallel to the abolition of Atlantic slavery, new forms of indentured labour stilled global capitalism's need for cheap, disposable labour. The famous 'coolie trade' - mainly Asian labourers transferred to French and British islands in the Indian Ocean, Australia, Indonesia, South Africa, the Caribbean, the Americas, as well as to Portuguese colonies in Africa - was one of the largest migration movements in global history. Indentured contract workers are perhaps the most revealing example of bonded labour in the grey area between the poles of chattel slavery and 'free' wage labour. This interdisciplinary volume addresses historically and regionally specific cases of bonded labour relations from the 18th century to sponsorship systems in the Arab Gulf States today.

Sabine Damir-Geilsdorf is Professor for Middle Eastern Studies and Director of the Institute of Middle Eastern and South East Asian Studies at the University of Cologne. She obtained her PhD in Islamic Studies with a thesis on the Egyptian Islamist Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966) and received her postdoctoral qualification degree (Habilitation) with a study on Palestinian narratives of the Arab-Israeli war 1948. She has carried out field research in various countries of the Middle East and has published widely on transformations of religious concepts, Islamism, (forced) migration in the Middle East, Islam in Germany, and popular culture in Middle Eastern societies. Ulrike Lindner is part of the interdisciplinary research group "Migration and Labour" at the Global South Studies Center (University of Cologne, Germany). Gesine Müller is professor of romanist philology at the University of Cologne and part of the interdisciplinary research group "Migration and Labour" at the Global South Studies Center (University of Cologne, Germany). Oliver Tappe is part of the interdisciplinary research group "Migration and Labour" at the Global South Studies Center (University of Cologne, Germany). Michael Zeuske is part of the interdisciplinary research group "Migration and Labour" at the Global South Studies Center (University of Cologne, Germany).