Gender Negotiations Among Indians in Trinidad

This book is about the struggles of female and male descendants of Indian indentured migrants in Trinidad in the first half of the twentieth century, each desiring to preserve some aspects of the gender system brought from India between 1845 and 1917, which were important to their continued definition of ethnic identity and community in Trinidad. At the same time the situation of migration allowed for challenges to the caste system of Hinduism and, for women and some men, new opportunities to confront the more restricting aspect of Indian patriarchy which followed them across the seas from India.

Patricia Mohammed is Head and Senior Lecturer, Mona Unit, Centre for Gender Development Studies, University of West Indies, Jamaica

List of Tables and Figures

xi

Glossary

xiii

Acknowledgements

xx

Introduction

1

(16)

Introduction

1

(3)

Indian Migration to Trinidad

4

(2)

The Idea of an Indian Community in Trinidad

6

(3)

The Centrality of Gender in Identity Formation

9

(3)

The Concept of Gender Negotiation

12

(5)

Crossing the Black Water: From India to Trinidad, 1845--1917

17

(37)

Introduction

17

(2)

Ideological Hegemonies of Gender in India

19

(4)

`Contestation of Ideological Hegemonies in India

23

(2)

Anti-colonial and Anti-patriarchal Struggles in India

25

(4)

The Context of Migration from India

29

(8)

The `Indian Woman Question'

37

(3)

The First Negotiations

40

(7)

Caste and gender pollution

40

(2)

Female reproduction and production

42

(2)

Freedom and constraints within estate life

44

(1)

Interracial liaisons and violent retaliations

44

(2)

Female responses

46

(1)

The Twice Outcaste Sex

47

(7)

Gender in the Definition of Indian Identity in Trinidad

54

(38)

Introduction

54

(1)

The Colonial Order

55

(4)

Statutory Definitions of Difference within the Colonial Order

59

(3)

The Anti-colonial Discourse in Trinidad

62

(1)

The Indo-Trinidadian Nationalist Struggle

63

(6)

The Markers of Indian Ethnic Difference in Trinidad

69

(10)

Entrances and exits

69

(4)

Indian attitudes to the new society

73

(2)

Visual markers

75

(2)

Language and identity

77

(2)

Cultural Stereotypes

79

(1)

The Home versus the World: The Centrality of Gender

80

(3)

Preservation of the Race

83

(9)

Gender Dynamics in the Making of Community

92

(42)

A Steady Labour Force

92

(12)

From Estate Labour to Land Acquisition: Relocating Community

104

(11)

Family Strategies

115

(10)

Conclusion

125

(2)

Appendices

Map of lots sold to villages of Lengua Village and surrounding areas

127

(1)

Map of sugar and cocoa estates in Trinidad in the 19th and early 20th centuries

128

(1)

Map of main towns and villages in the 19th and early 20th centuries in Trinidad

129

(2)

Report of the Wages Committee of 1920

131

(3)

The Reconfiguration of Masculinity and Femininity: Negotiating with Myth and Symbols

134

(41)

Introduction

134

(3)

Continuities and Correspondence

137

(5)

Transmitters of Myth and Symbol

142

(23)

Ritual religious occasions

142

(7)

Orality and transmission of gender ideology

149

(5)

Transmission through literary sources: Newspapers, lectures and debating societies

154

(5)

Heroes and heroines of the silver screen

159

(6)

Negotiating with Symbols of Patriarchy

165

(3)

Patriarchal Symbols

168

(6)

Conclusion

174

(1)

Renegotiating Sexuality

175

(40)

Introduction

175

(2)

Colonial Attitudes to the Sexuality of Indians

177

(5)

Christian Missionary Attitudes to Indian Morality and Sexuality

182

(3)

Colonial and Christian Morality

185

(1)

The Attitude to Indian Sexuality in Creole Trinidad

186

(2)

Negotiation of Sexuality among Indians

188

(14)

Violent confrontations

188

(2)

Village sanctions and control

190

(4)

Female Responses

194

(8)

Male Responses to a Subverted Patriarchy

202

(6)

Male Control of Female Sexuality

208

(5)

Conclusion

213

(2)

Family, Marriage and Love

215

(47)

Introduction

215

(2)

Nata Ke Bhai to Pariwaar: The Recreation of Family and Kinship Systems

217

(9)

Internal Affairs: Marriage Negotiations in the Indian Community

226

(21)

The arrangement of marriages

227

(4)

Negotiating intimacy and gender relations in child marriages

231

(2)

Breakdown in arranged marriages

233

(1)

Successful arrangements

234

(4)

Education and the deferral of arranged marriages

238

(9)

From Respect to Romantic Love

247

(11)

Compromises Between Parents and Children

258

(2)

Conclusion

260

(2)

The Troubled Legacy of History and Love

262

(8)

Notes

270

(29)

Bibliography

299

(13)

Index

312

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

FREE SHIPPING

Amazon no longer offers textbook rentals. We do!

Gender Negotiations Among Indians in Trinidad 1917-1947

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials