Negotiating, Resisting and Revolting in the Early 20th Century Gulf Pearling Industry

This article focuses on the sailors working under a condition of debt bondage on the Arabian side of the Gulf during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They did not leave any first-hand source behind and therefore scholars have to rely on documents created by others, especially foreigners. For the most part, these witnesses represented these labourers as a shapeless mass, victim of a barbaric system of exploitation. The status of indebtedness and the prerogatives given to the captains/creditors actually created a situation of quasi-slavery; however, this article rejects the idea, suggested by most external observers, that these sailors completely lacked agency. Although using the same British and foreign documents, the article attempts to offer a different perspective: by inserting both these workers and the producers of the sources in their specific social, political and economic context, it aims at proving that the former, despite their position, they were able to reject abuses and express their dissent both within and outside the pearling system. Therefore, the main objective is comparing the Western-borne narrative with the actions undertaken by sailors, with a particular focus on their attempts at fleeing abusive employers and on the series of riots trigged in Manama (Baḥrayn) by the reforms imposed by the local and British authorities on the pearling system, between 1926 and 1932. These case studies prove how sailors could implement different actions of resistance and assert the potential of their subjectiveness.