Gandhi in South Africa: Questions of Caste and Race

Gandhi went to South Africa in the early 1890s as a lawyer to represent the case of an Indian businessman where he confronted racial discrimination and exclusion. His personal experience of racism was further exacerbated by the collective experience of racism that was part of the daily life of indentured Indians taken to South Africa as labourers for agricultural and industrial production. That was the context of Gandhi’s transition from a lawyer to a political activist. Gandhi got involved in mobilizing indentured Indians for collective action against economic exploitation, political marginalization, and racialization. Gandhi the lawyer ended up as Gandhi the leader of mass mobilization. The agency of Gandhi’s political socialization rightly belongs to indentured Indians in South Africa.