42

‪Did British imperialism in India give a traditionally static society a decisive push towards mobility, or did it quell the dynamism of a society which had always been on the move? Through the review of selected books, the article retraces the way the evolution of practices of labour circulation throughout the 19‪‪th‪‪ ‪‪century served as a fertile ground for historical debates. An enduring focus on processes of industrialization and urbanization long associated with colonial rule has meant that much attention has been devolved to the connection between the main centres of activity (industries, mines, plantations) and their rural labour catchment areas. In recent years, however, historians have endeavoured to account for the diversity of circulatory practices during the colonial period, as well as their multiple genealogies. In so doing, they showed that colonial rule had, if anything, various and contradictory impacts on circulatory regimes and practices. Moving away from a simple transition model, from pre-colonial to colonial, traditional to modern, static to mobile, these studies have drawn attention to the imbrication of structures, spaces, and practices through time.‪