GLC@Lunch: Mishal Khan, “Abolition Redux at the League of Nations: Managing “Native” Labor in British India and Beyond”

During the 1920s the international community gathered at the League of Nations – reinvigorated in their commitment to a global order based on principles of political economy, free labor, and anti-slavery. In this presentation I theorize this period as a “second abolition” moment. Focusing on backroom conversations between a variety of actors hammering out global conventions, codes, and policies around labor, slavery, and analogous conditions, I delve into discussions around “native labor” in general and Indian labor in particular. Through the analysis I demonstrate how racial stereotypes learned and perfected during colonial rule were reinscribed into international law in this foundational moment.