“Natasha Pairaudeau gives us a solid and nuanced demonstration, based on a very large body of documentation (archives and periodicals) that she consulted in France, Vietnam and Pondicherry, and enriched by interviews with the descendants of certain families of “renouncers”. With this chapter on intra-imperial migrations, the author opens a new perspective for the historiography of the French Empire.”

“Pairaudeau’s book is remarkable in terms of its imagination and archival research. It examines the predicaments of subjects, whose history in the context of competing imperial enterprises has not been told; it moves away from the overstudied British empire to look at the French one; it sets up a much-needed dialogue between histories of citizenship regimes in South and Southeast Asia, thus introducing a comparative perspective; and it shatters conventional assumptions about plural society and lack of local agency.”

“Pairaudeau’s very readable and fascinating book is a model of comprehensive research in archives in Vietnam, France and other countries, enriched by thoughtful consideration of old and new theories of colonial history. Her deep knowledge of French, Indian and Vietnamese history is manifest, and she deftly weaves biographical details and anecdotes about individual Indians into the general narrative.”

“Over eight chapters there is discussion over citizenship statuses, (un)official privileges, rights and expectations thus exposing inherent contradictions within the French colonial system. [..] Pairaudeau effectively shows how both analytic lenses of the plural society and racial discourse which has come to dominate discussions on the configuring of colonial societies is lacking.”

“Pairaudeau’s work adopts a transnational approach that links the Indian subcontinent to Indochina and specifically to Cochinchina, while remaining cognizant of the metropole’s inherent causality. [..] It is difficult to find significant flaws with such a richly detailed and abundantly documented work based on tri-lingual archival research and numerous interviews on several continents.”

“This book tells the story and history of Indian migrants to Indochina during the French colonial period. France was the colonial power in the three Indochinese states of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam; its dominance over Indochina ended with its defeat by the North Vietnamese military at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. […] This book, which is based on the author’s doctoral thesis, is highly readable, both for specialists and laymen. Well researched and richly detailed in analysis, it is a remarkable piece of work on Indian migrants in Vietnam, a subject hitherto little unexplored. In all, Natasha Pairaudeau’s Mobile Citizens provides a valuable contribution to the understanding of the functioning of the French colonial order in Vietnam. A thoroughly enjoyable read.”

“The book does an excellent job in weaving together the nitty-gritty of archival sources to present an intricate and coherent historical analysis of the Indian presence in French Indochina.”

“Mobile Citizens is a much-awaited contribution to the colonial history of Vietnam and, more broadly, of Southeast Asia that will be of interest to a wide range of academics and students working in multiple disciplines on issues of citizenship, migration, and identity.”