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Article
From Pariah to Prime Minister: Transformation in the Images of the Indian Community in the Caribbean
Author(s)
Sherry-Ann Singh
Full-Text PDF XML 462 Views
DOI:10.17265/2328-2177/2018.10.003
Affiliation(s)
University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago
ABSTRACT
Between 1838 and 1917,
close to half a million Indians arrived in the Caribbean as labourers under the
British scheme of Indian indenture. Upon completion of their respective periods
of indenture, most of these immigrants did not return to India, opting instead
to make the Caribbean their home. Due to a range of very provocative social,
economic, and political factors all indubitably tied to British colonial
agenda, Indians were unceremoniously implanted into the various colonies where
they continued to exist in a pariah like state for the duration of the system
of Indian indenture. Upon termination of the system by 1920, Indians had begun
a very checkered journey towards integration in the wider Caribbean societies.
For three Caribbean countries, these journeys culminated in the election of
Indian prime ministers and presidents; for many others, they were often marked
by the emergence of profoundly eminent Indians who carved out niches for
themselves in the social, political, economic, and cultural landscapes of the
Caribbean community. As communities within nations, the experiences of Indians
were marked by varying facets and degrees of growth and development in the
locations with substantially large numbers of Indians. In those locations with
substantially smaller numbers, the Indian communities were either assimilated
as a cultural/ethnic group into the wider social fabrics or, have been
struggling to retain their Indian identity as a minority group. The objective
of this paper is to chart the many trajectories that have emerged with and for
Indians in the Caribbean, and to explore the many images and imaginings of
Indians in the Caribbean that have been framed along these trajectories; both
of and among themselves and from the larger Caribbean framework.
KEYWORDS
Hinduism, Indian, Caribbean, Trinidad, Transformation, Social, Religion
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