From Indians in Trinidad to Indo-Trinidadians The Making of a Girmitiya Diaspora

This book explores the dynamics of the socio-cultural baggage that Indian indentured migrants took with them to the Caribbean island of Trinidad and how they have since become a vibrant diaspora community, namely the Indo-Trinidadians. It combines social history with first-hand fieldwork data to portray human ingenuity in terms of social reconstitution and community building in a hostile socio-cultural environment. Furthermore, it addresses key social institutions—religion, caste, and family—and cultural elements—language, foodways, and ethnicity. Its analytical framework is guided by the concept of metamorphosis; it steers clear of the persistence versus change hypotheses. Given its focus, it will be of interest to students and scholars of sociology, social anthropology, history, and migration and diaspora studies.

Introduction.- Indentured Migration to Trinidad: Recruitment, Journey, and Life in the Estate.- Settlement and Community Formation.- Ethnicity and Ethnic Mobilisation.- Elections and the Politicisation of Race and Ethnicity.- Sex-Ratio Disparity and Marriage: Erasures and Reconstitutions.- Family, Kinship, and Gender Relations: Erasures and Reconstitutions.- Religion, Ethnic Protest, and Cultural Contestation.- Religion and Society I: Trinidad Hinduism.- Religion and Society II: Presbyterianism, Islam, and Syncretic Practices.- Culture and the Community: Language and Foodways.- Conclusion.

N. Jayaram retired as Professor of Sociology from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. He was Visiting Professor of Indian Studies at The University of the West Indies, Trinidad. The areas of his interest include the Study of Indian Diaspora and Theory and Methods in Sociology. He was the Managing Editor of Sociological Bulletin (2000–2015), the journal of the Indian Sociological Society, and a recipient of ET Now Education Leadership Award (2013) and Lifetime Achievement Award (2020–21) of the Indian Sociological Society.