Dave Ramsaran and Linden F. Lewis
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781496818041
- eISBN:
- 9781496818089
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496818041.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
In 1833, the abolition of slavery in the British Empire led to the import of exploited South Asian indentured workers in the Caribbean under extreme oppression. This book concentrates on the Indian ...
More
In 1833, the abolition of slavery in the British Empire led to the import of exploited South Asian indentured workers in the Caribbean under extreme oppression. This book concentrates on the Indian descendants' processes of mixing, assimilating, and adapting while trying desperately to hold on to that which marks a group of people as distinct. In some ways, the lived experience of the Indian community in Guyana and Trinidad represents a cultural contradiction of belonging and non-belonging. In other parts of the Caribbean, people of Indian descent seem so absorbed by the more dominant African culture and through intermarriage that Indo-Caribbean heritage seems less central. The book lays out a context within which to develop a broader view of Indians in Guyana and Trinidad, a numerical majority in both countries. They address issues of race and ethnicity but move beyond these familiar aspects to track such factors as ritual, gender, family, and daily life. The book gauges not only an unrelenting process of assimilative creolization on these descendants of India, but also the resilience of this culture in the face of modernization and globalization.Less
In 1833, the abolition of slavery in the British Empire led to the import of exploited South Asian indentured workers in the Caribbean under extreme oppression. This book concentrates on the Indian descendants' processes of mixing, assimilating, and adapting while trying desperately to hold on to that which marks a group of people as distinct. In some ways, the lived experience of the Indian community in Guyana and Trinidad represents a cultural contradiction of belonging and non-belonging. In other parts of the Caribbean, people of Indian descent seem so absorbed by the more dominant African culture and through intermarriage that Indo-Caribbean heritage seems less central. The book lays out a context within which to develop a broader view of Indians in Guyana and Trinidad, a numerical majority in both countries. They address issues of race and ethnicity but move beyond these familiar aspects to track such factors as ritual, gender, family, and daily life. The book gauges not only an unrelenting process of assimilative creolization on these descendants of India, but also the resilience of this culture in the face of modernization and globalization.
Dave Ramsaran and Linden F. Lewis
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781496818041
- eISBN:
- 9781496818089
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496818041.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
This introductory chapter provides an overview of the Indian communities of Guyana and Trinidad. The lived experience of the Indian community in Guyana and Trinidad in some ways represents a cultural ...
More
This introductory chapter provides an overview of the Indian communities of Guyana and Trinidad. The lived experience of the Indian community in Guyana and Trinidad in some ways represents a cultural contradiction of belonging and non-belonging—of being a part of all that is the Caribbean yet not wanting to belong so completely as to be overwhelmed by the dominance of the African presence in the Caribbean, which confronts them on all levels. Beyond the impact of the cultural landscape of Guyana and Trinidad on people of Indian descent in the Caribbean is their own influence on the societies in which they live. What may have started out as essentially Indian traditions and rituals have become nationalized and celebrated by many people in Guyana and Trinidad who are not of Indian descent. The chapter then considers the theoretical perspective of creolization.Less
This introductory chapter provides an overview of the Indian communities of Guyana and Trinidad. The lived experience of the Indian community in Guyana and Trinidad in some ways represents a cultural contradiction of belonging and non-belonging—of being a part of all that is the Caribbean yet not wanting to belong so completely as to be overwhelmed by the dominance of the African presence in the Caribbean, which confronts them on all levels. Beyond the impact of the cultural landscape of Guyana and Trinidad on people of Indian descent in the Caribbean is their own influence on the societies in which they live. What may have started out as essentially Indian traditions and rituals have become nationalized and celebrated by many people in Guyana and Trinidad who are not of Indian descent. The chapter then considers the theoretical perspective of creolization.
