Arising from Bondage

Arising from Bondage
Author: Ron Ramdin
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 406
Release: 2000-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780814775486

Arising from Bondage is an epic story of the struggle of the Indo-Caribbean people. From the 1830's through World War I hundreds of thousands of indentured laborers were shipped from India to the Caribbean and settled in the former British, Dutch, French and Spanish colonies. Like their predecessors, the African slaves, they labored on the sugar estates. Unlike the Africans their status was ambiguous--not actually enslaved yet not entirely free--they fought mightily to achieve power in their new home. Today in the English-speaking Caribbean alone there are one million people of Indian descent and they form the majority in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. This study, based on official documents and archives, as well as previously unpublished material from British, Indian and Caribbean sources, fills a major gap in the history of the Caribbean, India, Britain and European colonialism. It also contributes powerfully to the history of diaspora and migration.

From Indians in Trinidad to Indo-Trinidadians

From Indians in Trinidad to Indo-Trinidadians
Author: N. Jayaram
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2022-09-12
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9811933677

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.

The Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions

The Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions
Author: Patrick Taylor
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 1185
Release: 2013-04-30
Genre: Reference
ISBN: 0252094336

The Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions is the definitive reference for Caribbean religious phenomena from a Caribbean perspective. Generously illustrated, this landmark project combines the breadth of a comparative approach to religion with the depth of understanding of Caribbean spirituality as an ever-changing and varied historical phenomenon. Organized alphabetically, entries examine how Caribbean religious experiences have been shaped by and have responded to the processes of colonialism and the challenges of the postcolonial world. Systematically organized by theme and area, the encyclopedia considers religious traditions such as Vodou, Rastafari, Sunni Islam, Sanatan Dharma, Judaism, and the Roman Catholic and Seventh-day Adventist churches. Detailed subentries present topics such as religious rituals, beliefs, practices, specific historical developments, geographical differences, and gender roles within major traditions. Also included are entries that address the religious dimensions of geographical territories that make up the Caribbean. Representing the culmination of more than a decade of work by the associates of the Caribbean Religions Project, The Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions will foster a greater understanding of the role of religion in Caribbean life and society, in the Caribbean diaspora, and in wider national and transnational spaces.

The Regulation of Religion and the Making of Hinduism in Colonial Trinidad

The Regulation of Religion and the Making of Hinduism in Colonial Trinidad
Author: Alexander Rocklin
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 311
Release: 2019-02-07
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1469648725

How can religious freedom be granted to people who do not have a religion? While Indian indentured workers in colonial Trinidad practiced cherished rituals, "Hinduism" was not a widespread category in India at the time. On this Caribbean island, people of South Asian descent and African descent came together—under the watchful eyes of the British rulers—to walk on hot coals for fierce goddesses, summon spirits of the dead, or honor Muslim martyrs, practices that challenged colonial norms for religion and race. Drawing deeply on colonial archives, Alexander Rocklin examines the role of the category of religion in the regulation of the lives of Indian laborers struggling for autonomy. Gradually, Indians learned to narrate the origins, similarities, and differences among their fellows' cosmological views, and to define Hindus, Muslims, and Christians as distinct groups. Their goal in doing this work of subaltern comparative religion, as Rocklin puts it, was to avoid criminalization and to have their rituals authorized as legitimate religion—they wanted nothing less than to gain access to the British promise of religious freedom. With the indenture system's end, the culmination of this politics of recognition was the gradual transformation of Hindus' rituals and the reorganization of their lives—they fabricated a "world religion" called Hinduism.

Trinidad in Transition

Trinidad in Transition
Author: Donald Wood
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 464
Release: 1968
Genre: History
ISBN:

When slavery ended in Trinidad in 1834 it marked the beginning of a turbulent period in the island's history. Donald Wood looks at the people and the land at the end of slavery and then describes the impact of the immigrants who came to stem the sudden labor shortage and the resulting tensions this produced.

Hindu Diasporas

Hindu Diasporas
Author: Knut A. Jacobsen
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 442
Release: 2023-09-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0192637886

Hindu Diasporas presents the histories and religious traditions of Hindus with a South Asian ancestral background living outside of South Asia. Hinduism is a global religion with a significant presence in many countries throughout the world. The most important cause of this global expansion is migration. This book presents and analyses the most important of the geographies, migration histories, religious traditions and developments, rituals, places, institutions, and representations of Hinduism in the diasporas, capturing some of the great plurality of Hindu religious traditions. The first part of the book concentrates on the major regions in the world in which Hindu diasporas are found. The main focus is the modern period, but the book discusses also the possibility of premodern Hindu diasporas in Southeast Asia. The second part focuses on specific central themes such as Vaishnava, Shaiva, and Shakta traditions in diasporas, temples, and traditions of sacred sites and pilgrimage outside of South Asia, Hindutva organizations and the diaspora, as well as relations between Hindu diasporas and new followers of Hindu traditions. The chapters in this book show some of the global presence of the Hindu diasporas and some of the dynamic developments in multiple geographical spaces. Analysing specific spaces and themes, the chapters of the book offer a foundation for understanding the Hindu traditions in its most important global diasporic contexts and the dynamic developments around the world.

Cultural Power, Resistance, and Pluralism

Cultural Power, Resistance, and Pluralism
Author: Brian L. Moore
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Total Pages: 404
Release: 1995
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780773513549

Focusing on the critical years after the abolition of slavery in Guyana (1838-1900), Brian Moore examines the dynamic interplay between diverse cultures and the impact of these complex relationships on the development and structure of a colonial multiracial society.