Dougla
Encyclopedia
Dougla, a word used by people of the West Indies, especially in Guyana
and Trinidad and Tobago
. It is used to describe people who are a product of Afro-Trinidadian and Indo-Trinidadian
descent. It is a non-hereditary means of naming people; that is, dougla progeny would usually be categorized as another race based on the progeny's appearance, even in the case of dougla-dougla unions.
word that has many meanings such as many, a mix, or much. It literally means "two necks" in Bhojpuri and is highly insulting in the Bihar
and Purvanchal
regions of North India. Some of the connotations of the word such as bastard, illegitimate and son of a whore are secondary and limited to sections of North India
where the term may have originated. The term itself has a puzzling connotation, for it has very limited use within the subcontinent for the purpose that it gained in the West Indies. In other words, there is no recorded use of the word other than that which the definition describes, and yet, there is little or no record of such a defined use anywhere on the continent. Originally, the use of the word in the West Indies was only used for Afro-Indo racial hybrids, despite its origin as a word used to describe inter-caste mixing. In Bihar
and Uttar Pradesh
it is considered highly offensive, as it denotes that one is of mixed caste or a half-breed.
. There are sporadic records of Indo-Euro miscegenation, both forced and unforced, before any ethnic mixing of the African and Indian variety. Indian women were a minority among the earlier migrants. Many did not take the voyage across the Atlantic
for several reasons, among them the fear of exploitation and the assumption that they were unfit for labor. The first douglas were likely the result of interactions between Indian males and African women. However, the dougla was not particularly welcomed by the Indian community.
Socio-religious practice played its part. Religious practices
are paramount to the Hindu religion
and preservation of the religion and culture was of extreme importance to the indentured laborers. Association with those outside the community who engaged in Adharmic
practices was considered to compromise the purity of the race, religion and culture, seen as necessary for survival in the foreign land.
The second reason was socio-economic. The arrival
of Indians to Trinidad and Tobago's shores, as well as those of Guyana and elsewhere throughout the British Caribbean was not meant to be permanent. For most of the Indian immigrants, the aim was to gain material wealth under contract, then return to their prospective homelands. The dougla represented the postponement and deferral of that goal if not rendering it completely impossible, being a living symbol of departure from cultural custom jatis.
The third reason was racism
. Trinidad, as well as other territories in the Caribbean, had a dynamic of power
based on the colour of one's skin. This reinforced the rules by which Indo society functioned in excluding the dougla. Other Indo-based types of miscegenation (Indo-Chinese, Indo-carib) tended to identify as one of the older, unmixed ethnic strains on the island: Afro, Indo or Euro or passing as one of them.
These three forms of cultural logic determined the perception of the dougla within the Indo-Trinidadian community and, to a certain extent, how the dougla would be perceived within the outer community as a whole. Such a consideration also formed, to a large extent the way which douglas were and still are perceived to an extent.
"If they sending Indians to India
And Africans back to Africa
Well somebody please just tell me
Where they sending poor me?
I am neither one nor the other
Six of one, half a dozen of the other
So if they sending all these people back home for true
They got to split me in two,"
. Having a significant Indian population, almost making up half of the Guyanese population, along with the nation's Afro-Guyanese peoples, Douglas contribute to about 15% of the country's demographics, and increasing.
Along with the majority of people of Afro-Guyanese
or Indo-Guyanese
having both ethnicities in their family ancestry.
In the French West Indies
(Guadeloupe, Martinique), mixed afro-indian people used to be called Batazendien or Chapé-Coolie, those who have escaped the disagreeable Indian condition by becoming hybrid. This alludes to the persecution of Indians by the Blacks in post-slavery times, which pushed many Indians to confront their fate by marrying Blacks so that their Indian look might dissolve through progeny.
As in Jamaica, Barbados, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, St. Lucia, Grenada and the other 'smaller islands' of the Caribbean, citizens of mixed Afro-Indian blood in the French West Indies, and the numerous ones with white ancestry too, now tend to be well considered, as having the favourable attributes of their multiple origins. In Guadeloupe especially, and progressively in Martinique, their number is constantly increasing due to cross-breeding.
Contrarily to places where Afro-Indians feel uncomfortable, in the French West Indies they are now treated in a more positive way by other categories of the population and no longer face the cruel existential dilemma of post-slavery times. Sure enough, non-Indian candidates take part in events like Miss Sari Pageant, and the Colombo (Creole Curry) is definitely considered by all Guadeloupeans and Martinicans their 'national' dish. Indians and part-Indian citizens also play a significant role in politics, trade-union activity, art, education, agriculture...
The uncommon phenomenon of mutual acceptance and cultural exchange now attained, called by some 'the Guadeloupe Model', has widely contributed to the rare harmony of the multiracial French West Indian communities. Interestingly, the negritude champion writer Aimé Césaire, who had Indian blood too, was keen on interacting with Indians both from Martinique and Tamil-Nadu.
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
and Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
. It is used to describe people who are a product of Afro-Trinidadian and Indo-Trinidadian
Indo-Trinidadian
Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonian are nationals of Trinidad and Tobago of Indian or other South Asian ancestry.Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonians has now become interchangeable with Indians or East Indians. These were people who were taken from India by the British either as workers or educated...
descent. It is a non-hereditary means of naming people; that is, dougla progeny would usually be categorized as another race based on the progeny's appearance, even in the case of dougla-dougla unions.
Origins and Etymology
The word originated from doogala (दुगला), which is a Bhojpuri and HindiHindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
word that has many meanings such as many, a mix, or much. It literally means "two necks" in Bhojpuri and is highly insulting in the Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
and Purvanchal
Purvanchal
Purvanchal is a geographic region of north-central India, which comprises the eastern end of Uttar Pradesh state...
regions of North India. Some of the connotations of the word such as bastard, illegitimate and son of a whore are secondary and limited to sections of North India
North India
North India, known natively as Uttar Bhārat or Shumālī Hindustān , is a loosely defined region in the northern part of India. The exact meaning of the term varies by usage...
where the term may have originated. The term itself has a puzzling connotation, for it has very limited use within the subcontinent for the purpose that it gained in the West Indies. In other words, there is no recorded use of the word other than that which the definition describes, and yet, there is little or no record of such a defined use anywhere on the continent. Originally, the use of the word in the West Indies was only used for Afro-Indo racial hybrids, despite its origin as a word used to describe inter-caste mixing. In Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
and Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
it is considered highly offensive, as it denotes that one is of mixed caste or a half-breed.
The Genealogy of the Dougla subject
The dougla, specifically half-African and half-Indian descent, arose as a result of Colonial social conditions during the period of Indian indentureship Plantation EconomyPlantation economy
A plantation economy is an economy which is based on agricultural mass production, usually of a few staple products grown on large farms called plantations. Plantation economies rely on the export of cash crops as a source of income...
. There are sporadic records of Indo-Euro miscegenation, both forced and unforced, before any ethnic mixing of the African and Indian variety. Indian women were a minority among the earlier migrants. Many did not take the voyage across the Atlantic
Indian indenture system
The Indian indenture system was an ongoing system of indenture by which thousands of Indians were transported to various colonies of European powers to provide labour for the plantations...
for several reasons, among them the fear of exploitation and the assumption that they were unfit for labor. The first douglas were likely the result of interactions between Indian males and African women. However, the dougla was not particularly welcomed by the Indian community.
Socio-religious practice played its part. Religious practices
Purusharthas
In Hinduism, refers to a goal, end or aim of human existence...
are paramount to the Hindu religion
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
and preservation of the religion and culture was of extreme importance to the indentured laborers. Association with those outside the community who engaged in Adharmic
Adharma
Adharma is the Sanskrit antonym of Dharma. It means 'that which is not in accord with the law' - referring to both the human written law and the divinely given law of nature. Connotations include unnaturalness, wrongness, evil, immorality, wickedness, or vice....
practices was considered to compromise the purity of the race, religion and culture, seen as necessary for survival in the foreign land.
The second reason was socio-economic. The arrival
Indian Arrival Day
Indian Arrival Day is a holiday celebrated on various days around the world, usually commemorating the arrival of people from the Indian subcontinent to that nation.-Guyana:...
of Indians to Trinidad and Tobago's shores, as well as those of Guyana and elsewhere throughout the British Caribbean was not meant to be permanent. For most of the Indian immigrants, the aim was to gain material wealth under contract, then return to their prospective homelands. The dougla represented the postponement and deferral of that goal if not rendering it completely impossible, being a living symbol of departure from cultural custom jatis.
The third reason was racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
. Trinidad, as well as other territories in the Caribbean, had a dynamic of power
Power (sociology)
Power is a measurement of an entity's ability to control its environment, including the behavior of other entities. The term authority is often used for power perceived as legitimate by the social structure. Power can be seen as evil or unjust, but the exercise of power is accepted as endemic to...
based on the colour of one's skin. This reinforced the rules by which Indo society functioned in excluding the dougla. Other Indo-based types of miscegenation (Indo-Chinese, Indo-carib) tended to identify as one of the older, unmixed ethnic strains on the island: Afro, Indo or Euro or passing as one of them.
These three forms of cultural logic determined the perception of the dougla within the Indo-Trinidadian community and, to a certain extent, how the dougla would be perceived within the outer community as a whole. Such a consideration also formed, to a large extent the way which douglas were and still are perceived to an extent.
Douglas in Trinidad Culture
One calypsonian, the Mighty Dougla (Clatis Ali), described the predicament of "douglas" in the 1960s:"If they sending Indians to India
And Africans back to Africa
Well somebody please just tell me
Where they sending poor me?
I am neither one nor the other
Six of one, half a dozen of the other
So if they sending all these people back home for true
They got to split me in two,"
Dougla in other Caribbean Islands
The biggest population of Dougla peoples, second (and if not on par), with those in Trinidad and Tobago are those in the South American nation of GuyanaGuyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
. Having a significant Indian population, almost making up half of the Guyanese population, along with the nation's Afro-Guyanese peoples, Douglas contribute to about 15% of the country's demographics, and increasing.
Along with the majority of people of Afro-Guyanese
Afro-Guyanese
Afro-Guyanese people are the inhabitants of Guyana of Black African origin...
or Indo-Guyanese
Indo-Guyanese
Indo-Guyanese are mostly descendants of indentured labourers from India who are citizens or nationals of Guyana. They are often referred to as Indians or East Indians...
having both ethnicities in their family ancestry.
In the French West Indies
French West Indies
The term French West Indies or French Antilles refers to the seven territories currently under French sovereignty in the Antilles islands of the Caribbean: the two overseas departments of Guadeloupe and Martinique, the two overseas collectivities of Saint Martin and Saint Barthélemy, plus...
(Guadeloupe, Martinique), mixed afro-indian people used to be called Batazendien or Chapé-Coolie, those who have escaped the disagreeable Indian condition by becoming hybrid. This alludes to the persecution of Indians by the Blacks in post-slavery times, which pushed many Indians to confront their fate by marrying Blacks so that their Indian look might dissolve through progeny.
As in Jamaica, Barbados, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, St. Lucia, Grenada and the other 'smaller islands' of the Caribbean, citizens of mixed Afro-Indian blood in the French West Indies, and the numerous ones with white ancestry too, now tend to be well considered, as having the favourable attributes of their multiple origins. In Guadeloupe especially, and progressively in Martinique, their number is constantly increasing due to cross-breeding.
Contrarily to places where Afro-Indians feel uncomfortable, in the French West Indies they are now treated in a more positive way by other categories of the population and no longer face the cruel existential dilemma of post-slavery times. Sure enough, non-Indian candidates take part in events like Miss Sari Pageant, and the Colombo (Creole Curry) is definitely considered by all Guadeloupeans and Martinicans their 'national' dish. Indians and part-Indian citizens also play a significant role in politics, trade-union activity, art, education, agriculture...
The uncommon phenomenon of mutual acceptance and cultural exchange now attained, called by some 'the Guadeloupe Model', has widely contributed to the rare harmony of the multiracial French West Indian communities. Interestingly, the negritude champion writer Aimé Césaire, who had Indian blood too, was keen on interacting with Indians both from Martinique and Tamil-Nadu.