one together and one apart

235 Pages·2005·1.84 MB·English

“ONE TOGETHER AND ONE APART”:
INTERRACIAL MARRIAGES BETWEEN INDO-TRINIDADIAN WOMEN AND
AFRO-TRINIDADIAN MEN

By

SANGITA CHARI

A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF ARTS

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

2005
Copyright 2005

By

Sangita Chari
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This thesis is the result of the advice and encouragement of many people. Most
significantly, I want to thank my informants in Trinidad for their time and willingness to
share their lives with me. I learned more than I could have hoped from them and I hope
that their wisdom is accurately conveyed in this thesis. I am indebted to Dr. Rhoda
Reddock, head of the Centre for Gender and Development Studies at the University of
the West Indies, and the staff for use of their space, research material and wonderful
comraderie. I also want to thank Dr. Patricia Mohammed for meeting with me and
assisting me with the interviews. Lastly, I want to thank both the Caribbean Association
for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA) and the Hindu Women’s Organization
(HWO) for use of their newspaper archives.
I am indebted to my committee for their guidance and academic support. I want to
thank Dr. Irma McClaurin for serving as my Chair. Her insight and guidance has been
instrumental in shaping my study and my understanding of native and feminist
anthropology. I also appreciate Dr. Helen Safa’s wisdom in helping me bring my study
to completion. Finally, I would be remiss not to acknowledge the excellent assistance I
received along the way from the Anthropology department administrative staff,
particularly Karen Jones.
Writing something of this length and magnitude does not happen alone. I could not
have done it without the countless hours of discussion, editorial advice, and
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emotional support from my friends and family. In particular, I want to thank fellow
student and friend Jodi Stewart-Moore for helping me formulate my study and editing my
work. I want to thank my husband Aaron Large for his constant encouragement and
flexibility during this long process. Most of all I want to thank the women in my family,
my mother Neela Chari and sister Radhika Chari, for their absolute commitment to
helping me bring my study to completion. I cannot quantify what their time, editorial
help, encouragement, love and support have meant to me, and I dedicate my study to
them.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

page

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS…………………………………………………………….. iii

LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………………... vii

ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………. viii

CHAPTER

1 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………..………………...… 1

Background for Research……………………………………………………………... 2
My Impact as Researcher………………………………............................................... 5
Defining Interracial Marriage, Gender and Ethnicity……………………………..….. 12
Popular Conceptions of Interracial Marriages………………………………………... 14
Attitudes toward Interracial Marriages……………………………………..………... 16

2 LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………………..………… 20

Predicting Rates of Interracial Marriage……………………………………………… 20
Interracial Marriage and Community Identity……………………………………….. 23
Mixed Race Children and Community Identity…………………………………….... 27
Ethnicity and Gender in Trinidad…………………………………………………….. 30
Indo-Trinidadian Attitudes toward Interracial Marriages………………………….... 31
Factors Influencing Rates of Interracial Marriage in Trinidad.……………………..... 35
Overview of Research on Indo-Trinidadian Women………………………………..... 36

3 RESEARCH DESIGN………………………………………………………………… 42

Native Anthropology and Feminist Anthropology……….………………….….……. 42
Caribbean Feminism and Social Science Research…...………………………..….…. 54
Caribbean Feminism and Indo-Trinidadian Women………………………...….……. 57
Research Methodology and Techniques………………………………………..….…. 65
Study Groups……………………………………………….…………………...….…. 71
Length of Study…………………………………………………………………….…. 76
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4 BACKGROUND AND HISTORY OF INDO-TRINIDADIAN WOMEN………...… 78

Trinidad’s Colonial Roots………………………………………………………….…. 80
Indo-Trinidadian Women and Indentureship: 1845 to1917..…………………………. 84
The Rise of the Indo-Trinidadian Agricultural Village: 1917 to 1946.………………. 86
The Indian Independence Movement and Indo-Trinidadians: 1930 to 1948..……..…. 87
Indian Nationalism and Gender……………………………………………….….…... 90
Role of Gender in Developing an Indo-Trinidadian Identity………….….………….. 91
Influence of Ethnicity on the Indo-Trinidadian Community……………….………… 95
Ethnicity and the Struggle for Political Power: 1950s to 1970s.……...……………… 97
Ethnicity and Economics in Trinidad: 1960s to 1970s………………………….……. 99
Ethnicity, Economics and Political Power: 1980s to Present………………………… 101
Ethnicity, Power and Masculinity in Trinidad………………………………………... 103
Indo-Trinidadian Women Since World War II……………………………………….. 105
Indo-Trinidadian Women Today……………………………………………………... 108

5 INTERVIEWS AND ANALYSIS……………….…………………………………… 115

Framing My Relationship to the Research………………………………………......... 116
Stories of Indo-Trinidadian Women Married to Afro-Trinidadian Men …………….. 117
Analysis and Interpretation…………………………………………………………… 159
Breaking From “Proper” Behavior: Choosing an Interracial Marriage………………. 160
From Courtship to Wedding Bells……………………………………………………. 167
Perceptions of Marriage to an Afro-Trinidadian…….………………………………... 172
Now What? Implications of Interracial Marriages for the Indo-Trinidadian
Community……………………………………………………………………………. 179
Conclusions …………………………………………………………………………... 187

6 CONCLUSION……………..………………………………………………………… 192

Research Conclusions……………………………………………………………….. 194
Future of Interracial Marriages in Trinidad………………………………………….. 195
Implications for Anthropology………………………………………..……………... 200

APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE…………………………………………………….. 203

LIST OF REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………… 213

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH…………………………………………………………….. 229

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LIST OF TABLES

Table page

1 Percentage distribution of the population at census dates……………………....79

2 Criteria for choosing an appropriate spouse……….………………………… 160

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Abstract of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School
of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts

“ONE TOGETHER AND ONE APART”: INTERRACIAL MARRIAGES BETWEEN
INDO-TRINIDADIAN WOMEN AND AFRO-TRINIDADIAN MEN

By

Sangita Chari

August 2005

Chair: Irma McClaurin
Major Department: Anthropology

This study analyzes why Indo-Trinidadian women choose to marry Afro-
Trinidadian men despite community norms against interracial marriages. Interracial
marriages between Indo-Trinidadian women and Afro-Trinidadian men are a contentious
subject in the Indo-Trinidadian community. Despite a social structure designed to
discourage Indo-Trinidadian women from considering interracial marriage (particularly
with Afro-Trinidadians), Indo-Trinidadian women continue to challenge community
norms by marrying men from the Afro-Trinidadian community. Why do Indo-
Trinidadian women choose to marry Afro-Trinidadian men, and what does their decision
represent to the Indo-Trinidadian community?
Research was conducted for 2 months, from August through October 1996, in
Trinidad and Tobago. Feminist ethnographic research methods were used: primarily
participant observation, written research, and in-depth interviews with Indo-Trinidadian
women in interracial marriages to Afro-Trinidadian men. Interviews lasted up
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to 2 hours and focused on family background, courtship patterns, marriage, and the
impact of the marriage on their identity and relationship to the Indo-Trinidadian
community. Eight interviews were conducted.
Next I conducted a comparative analysis of patterns that emerged from the
interviews with 14 Indo-Trinidadian community leaders. The purpose was to understand
how opposing value systems could emerge from the same community. To do this, the
decision-making process Indo-Trinidadian women used to marry Afro-Trinidadian men
was compared with popular reasons given in opposition to such marriages by Indo-
Trinidadian community leaders. Results show that Indo-Trinidadian women who choose
to marry Afro-Trinidadian men adhere to a distinct set of values and norms that do not
reflect the popular values regarding gender and ethnicity espoused by Indo-Trinidadian
leadership. My study challenges social scientists to look beyond traditional structures of
leadership and authority, to uncover the complexity and fluid nature of identity, gender,
and ethnicity in the Indo-Trinidadian community.
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

Living in a mixed marriage can be an intimate performance of juggling identities
and the ideologies associated with them, a dance sometimes threatening to
perform as well as to behold. It is sometimes enriching, but always also calls into
question deeply held assumptions about the nature of one’s own identities, and
those of one’s reference groups (Breger and Hill 1998: 28).

I never quite put my finger on it. I was bold. I think I made a step that very few
[made] at the time; few would have defied their parents and said that they were
going to get married to an African.…when I look back I think I was very
brave.…I just said— this is my life (Interview with Shalini).

Sexual behavior is one of the most highly symbolic activities of a society.
Deconstructing the symbolic system implicit in sexual behavior is critical to
understanding the culture of a community (Espin 1999: 124). Accad (1991) notes,
“Sexuality is much more central to social and political problems…than previously
thought, and …unless a sexual revolution is incorporated into a political revolution, there
will be no real transformation of social relations” (Espin 1999: 123). My study examines
interracial marriages between Indo-Trinidadian women and Afro-Trinidadian men in
Trinidad. Why do Indo-Trinidadian1 women choose to marry Afro-Trinidadian2 men,
and what does their decision represent to the Indo-Trinidadian community?

1 Indo-Trinidadian is a term developed in the mid-1900s to refer to Trinidadians who trace their ancestry to
what is now India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Previously Indo-Trinidadians were commonly called East
Indian or Indian. For purposes of this paper, I use the term Indo-Trinidadian. However, for quotes I have
retained the wording used by informants or cited materials. I use the term Indian solely to refer to people
with Indian citizenship.

2Afro-Trinidadian is a relatively new term developed in the mid-1990s to refer to people of African descent
in Trinidad. Various terms including Creole, Afro-Creole and African are commonly used. I used the term
Afro-Trinidadian except when presenting a direct quote or cited material.
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