« Mediating Coolies » : Les intermédiaires dans l'organisation du travail migrant au sein de l'Empire colonial français d'Asie et en métropole, de la fin du XIXe au milieu du XXe siècle : enquête historique en cours, perspectives de recherche

Abstract In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the French imperial network resulted in the creation of multiple migration routes between various French colonies and dependencies in Asia-Pacific region, thus reshaping mobility in the area. Although the French government actively promoted migration by organizing and subsidizing travel and establishing systems of indentured labor, recruitment operations were often carried out by coolie brokers, who became important social and political actors in labor relations. Analyzing and defining their contributions to the expansion of migrant networks within the French Empire remains crucial not only for colonial and post-colonial studies but also for understanding contemporary labor migrations in the Asia-Pacific. The term “mediating Coolies” refers to the organization of labor migrations —including recruitment, passage, management, repatriation or return— by a range of intermediaries, whether native, migrant or foreign, operating under various colonial labor regimes. This collection of articles examines different forms of “coolie” brokerage in France's Empire in Asia and seeks to address a gap in the scholarship on links between political and social contexts and transnational labor migration in the region. The articles compare specific recruitment practices of labor brokers across different migration regimes and assess the relationships between state structures and labor brokers within the French colonial system.