The History of Indian Indentureship in the Caribbean [Strictly Facts podcast]

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The History of Indian Indentureship in the Caribbean with Cristine Khan​

The Caribbean is made up of a number of ethnic groups, mostly as a result of colonialism between the 18th and 20th centuries. To commemorate Indian Arrival Day throughout the Caribbean, this week's episode discusses the roots of Indian indentureship with doctoral student Cristine Khan and how connecting these histories is integral to Caribbean connections moving forward

 

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*related.....from the British perspective.

You’re Never Indian or Caribbean Enough (BBC News)​

Sep 10, 2019
Indian people have been living in the Caribbean for more than 180 years, but Chandani Persaud, founder of Indo-Caribbean London, says that their contribution to the West Indies is overlooked, and they are often excluded by the Asian community. Fearing that young British Indo-Caribbeans are turning away from their culture, she is single-handedly organising the UK’s first Indo-Caribbean festival

 

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[WIA20XX]

I always feel some type of way about the Chinese and Indian contribution to Caribbean countries.
Them, and the Syrians/Lebanese play sort of a middle man role throughout the diaspora and the world.

Great European powers come in, mess things up for centuries, and "enterprising" businessmen that are neither black or white fill in mercantile roles in these countries.

Obviously this happens in the Caribbean, Africa, and Black Neighborhoods in the US - but you can also find these racially coded middlemen in Latin America and South East Asia.

*We won't get into the Nigerian business men who do this in the Black Community and Africa. But I see those same patterns as well.

To paraphrase Malcolm X, "They come to our community, do business, and take that big pile of money back to their own neighborhood"

Being the richer, better connected, better educated class that sits atop these communities, doesn't really interact with the community, stays within their own...

Something's never sat right. Even if it is just optics, it never seems to me like there's homegrown/indigenous competition in these places. It always seems like economic domination.

Seems is the key word here... I don't have the data to back any of this up. But perception matters.

 

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I think the immigration patterns and history of Indians is different than the other groups you mentioned. They were literally brought in as cheap labor. Their merchant class wasn't part of that wave. In numbers, if at all.
I think a class of merchants developed among them in successive generations in the new countries. Religious and some cultural ties might connect them to manufacturers in India and Indians around the world.
The other groups you mentioned had merchant class as significant percentage of their immigrant waves to the Caribbean.

 

[WIA20XX]

I think a class of merchants developed among them in successive generations in the new countries.

I agree what what you've said.

I'd home in on this part of your analysis, because part of the issues that many "countrymen" face in dealing with their own - is that there's often a competitive advantage in being an "other", irrespective of intra-communal money and knowledge transfers.

To make it more street, "our folks see us and look for the hook up".

To make it more academic, there's a reliance on cultural familiarity that impedes the business/customer relationship.
It goes both ways. Business to Customer and Customer to Business.

 

[UncleTomFord15]

A large portion of them willingly seperate themselves from black people in Jamaica

 

[O³ (O cubed)]

A large portion of them willingly seperate themselves from black people in Jamaica

And Trinidad.
And Guyana.
And Suriname.

 

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Sept 2025

 

[UncleTomFord15]

And Trinidad.
And Guyana.
And Suriname.

Just now seeing this post two years later . But ya, the Caribbean is one of the few places in the world we're Indians are given respect and look how they return the favor to the black population of the islands . To keep it real with you I blame the black Caribbean population for trying to be friends with these people. Theyre arguably worst than whites.

 

[FlimFlam]

This short thread provided a great deal of information.

Thank you

It may not be on the radar for a lot of people, but there has been an Indian reparations push since at least Ghandi. It bubbles into English media from time to time. It's pretty much given the same dismissive lip service that it gets in the states. (Costs too much , money isn't the correct approach etc)

Interestingly enough, if anyone could pull off extracting reparations from the west India/Indians are the most likely. They are both pivotal and powerful...relative to fellow reparations pursuants at the least