Special Report

Reporting Black America

For young Indo-Caribbean adults, culture is complex and a source of pride

Life on Liberty Avenue, the main street in Little Guyana, Richmond Hill in Queens, where Guyanese Americans make up the second-largest immigrant population and Indo-Caribbean culture thrives. November 5, 2021. Photo by Nikol Mudrová

There was a microcosm of Indo-Guyanese culture tucked away inside 20-year-old Maryam Ramjohn’s childhood home in Richmond Hill, Queens. Boisterous by the weekend, the space brimmed with grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins preparing meals together. The tickling aroma of curry—chicken, goat, seafood or duck on any given day—and roti wafted throughout. It was proximity to family which made the house feel like home and made leaving it all the more challenging. 

“Living together in that way is a part of my culture because it’s customary for parents and their children to live together well past adulthood,” said Ramjohn, who left Queens at age nine. “When my family moved, we lived in a suburb of New Jersey where I struggled to find anyone that I truly related to. At this point, my culture played a more confusing role for me. It was not something I took pride in the way I do now.” 

Pride came easily for Ramjohn in Queens, where Guyanese Americans make up the second-largest immigrant population and Indo-Caribbean culture, in particular, is salient. After her parents immigrated from Guyana to the U.S., her family planted roots in a somewhat demographically homogenous community. When they left, Ramjohn was suddenly among unfamiliar faces and races, searching for a sense of pride again. Knowing herself was never an issue, but promoting understanding among others was. 

“My culture consists of Indian culture, African culture and European culture,” said Ramjohnn, who is also Muslim. “Not many people outside of the Caribbean know what Guyana is unless they are from a part of the U.S. that is heavily populated by Caribbean people. When this [misunderstanding] happens, I have to run through my country’s history so they can understand where I’m from and why I look the way I do.”

Understanding the history of nations with large Indo-Caribbean populations like Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad means understanding the coerced labor that shaped their diverse demographics according to Aisha Khan, an anthropology professor at New York University. 

“The people who were already there were indigenous peoples,” said Khan, who also works within NYU’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. “The Europeans, Africans and Asians who have had called Guyana home for over 300 years, came with the systems of slavery and indenture, forced labor systems that populated much of, if not all, the Caribbean region.” 

Khan added that Middle-Eastern populations arrived in the Caribbean by the mid-19th century, primarily as merchants.This same forced labor is what brought variegated religions to the Caribbean too.

  “In the mid-19th century, you have the indentured people from India that the British bring over,” said Khan. “A minority of those indentured people were Muslim, the majority were Hindu. So it’s a really fascinating set of historical streams.” 

The presence of Indo-Caribbean culture is commonplace for someone like Khan who has studied the topic, and those of Caribbean descent. For those who don’t interact with the community, Indo-Caribbeans may remain an anomaly.

“It doesn’t make much of a difference if no one knows what it means to be Indo-Caribbean,” Ramjohn said. “This ignorance and lack of representation can be attributed to several factors, namely demographics and history of divide enforced by colonization. 

“It’s partly a demographic issue because the Caribbean is by far more populated by peoples of African heritage,”  said Khan. “The political angle would be that it is much to the benefit of colonizers to create a kind of divide and rule strategy, and often the differences among groups are couched in racial or cultural terms. This is ideology and a strategy on the part of colonizers, but it does influence post-independence societies in the Caribbean.”

Ambivalence to Indo-Caribbean culture is reflected in systems of racial identification, as seen on the census or official U.S. documents, that have historically reduced racial and ethnic identities to a matter of boxes and labels. If you don’t choose to label yourself by the options provided, your only other choice is typically “other”. Being the “other” sends negative messages about the value of those who select it. The label echoes the seemingly innocuous, “what are you really” inquiry that non-white people often get. For many Indo-Caribbeans, it’s a moot question.

“There’s no perfect ‘Indo-Caribbean’ spot to check off,” said Alyssa Harrynanan, 21, who is Indo-Trinidadian and Hindu. “I’ve typically checked off Asian, but that didn’t feel right to me. In fact, I remember a teacher in high school telling me that was wrong, that it was like lying. Recently once or twice, I’ve seen ‘Caribbean’ on forms that I’ve filled out, which feels so good because it actually feels like I’m represented. Even though it should technically be Indo-Caribbean.” 

Both Harrynanan and Ramjohn attend Union College in Schenectady, New York, where they embrace their culture through their school’s Caribbean Students Association and the town’s considerable Indo-Caribbean population. Despite facing continued ignorance, they celebrate. From Bollywood to dance hall, their expansive culture provides joy that a few checked boxes can never encompass. 

“There’s so much that I love about my culture,” Harrynanan said. “I love the positive atmosphere that is created, one that promotes just living life and having a good time. I love Caribbean music, dancing, the food, visiting Trinidad, my family, speaking with a Trinidadian accent. I’m very grateful that I’m able to embrace it so wholeheartedly.”

 

Author


Other Stories in Special Report: Reporting Black America

Sonic Serenity: A review of the music that carried Black folks through 2021

Vanessa Handy December 16, 2021

Despite uptick in diversity numbers, Black students say inclusive spaces are rare

Sanya Khurana December 16, 2021

African students says mispronouncing their names is a form of racism

Eniola Oshiafi December 16, 2021

Young adult Black immigrants forge new lives and battle racial inequalities

Shawn Kang December 13, 2021

The Chaotic Birth of a Coffee Shop

Austin Barron December 12, 2021

Afrobeat musicians make strides

Kirill Bykanov December 11, 2021

Black photographer’s work reveals the power and beauty of Blackness

Austin Barron November 28, 2021

Challenges persist for Black women who seek degrees in STEM

George Papazov November 27, 2021

Black bookstore owner say last year’s surging sales was part of anti-racism movement

Eniola Oshiafi November 27, 2021

Choosing natural hair for children

Sanya Khurana November 26, 2021

A Black artist refuses labels

Monique Ezeh November 26, 2021

Some Black Parents are Choosing Afrocentric Preschools for their Children

Sanya Khurana November 12, 2021

The quest to diversify NYC’s specialized high schools 

Vanessa Handy November 11, 2021

Healthcare disparities hurts African immigrants

Shawn Kang November 8, 2021

African Women Migrating to Escape Oppression

Eniola Oshiafi November 8, 2021

Black New Yorkers Want Manhattan’s First Black District Attorney To Be ‘Tough’

Austin Barron November 3, 2021

The only woman of color in Nashua’s city council is reelected

Kirill Bykanov November 3, 2021

Black doulas are challenging rampant healthcare disparity

Sughnen Yongo October 26, 2021

Interest in African art is growing

George Papazov October 15, 2021

Black queer community often at odds with police

Monique Ezeh October 14, 2021

Celebrating the Everyday Normalcy in Black Life

Austin Barron October 10, 2021

Liberation through imagination

Vanessa Handy October 10, 2021

Penfield’s Black Supermoms Make Sure School Kids know Black Kids Matter

Sanya Khurana October 8, 2021

Elizabeth Wellington on “Choosing Blackness”

Sughnen Yongo September 20, 2021