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After slavery was abolished in 1834, the Europeans needed a new system to operate on the plantations. They introduced the Indian Indentureship in 1838; where they brought East Indians from Calcutta to work under a contract, where they were paid small wages for a period of five years. The Indian men who came into the Caribbean engaged in inter-racial relationships with the former African slave women and this resulted in dougla children being created. As these relationships were formed and led to “illegitimate” children resulting, it was felt that this was a disruption to the Indians true goal of gaining wealth and returning to their homeland. Further, this new union relationship and its resultants lead to cultural conflict among the East Indian and Africa community. Many challenges arose out of this, as it was the beginning of culture changing amongst the groups; a weakening of the status, identity and position base of the East Indian people in their eyes. Dougla children became trapped with this clash of their peoples which posed many a challenges in their daily bid to survive.  They had to assume their own identity while intermingling between their cultural groups.

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In Trinidad, there is a large number of African and East Indian population who see themselves as superior to the other. This resulted in prejudice attitudes to be held for one another. People developed malicious criticism about the dougla child, given their colour and so they have degraded the opposing race. Since dougla people are a minority group within the society, they are faced with a lot of prejudice which often can have emotional and psychological effects such as sadness, sense of no belonging and anger. Author Derrick Abdul Salick, a Trinidadian born claims his identity as a dougla. In his book “Trinidad and Tobago Visioning a National Great Hope,” (2013) spoke about his school days where Indian children harassed him about being a nowarian (someone who belongs nowhere) and in the African communities he was seen as a “coolie or bastard”. In his perspective, he saw it is important for Douglas to stand up for themselves and make others accepting of them as equals. It is possible for this to occur, as there is increasing marital bonding between modern day Africans and Indians. It is the hope that one day the dougla community will have a voice to speak out and encourage their both ethnic groups to become more tolerant of their situation.  It is further hoped that they can become the bridge between the gaps created by their parent’s relationships which disrupted the seeming peaceful co-existence between both races.

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Local artist Clatis Ali from Trinidad also known as the Mighty Dougla, sang a song called “Split me in two”. The essence of the song highlights one of the main issues many dougla people face with in the Caribbean. A dougla person isn’t just an African or just an East Indian, as said in the song “I am neither one nor the other”. Sometimes within society it is difficult due to the racial divides for a person who is mixed to just call themselves one of the two. This is due to one of either group not accepting the fact that a person can be of both ethnicity as one has not accepted the humanity of the other. This can lead persons aligning themselves to one group and neglecting the other part of their identity.  It also meant many Douglas felt alienated given not being accepted by either groups.  In a feature address by Dr Elizabeth Sieusarran at a Shiv Mandir in El Dorado, she pleaded to some East Indians to decide whether they were going to accept Douglas or continue to ostracise them from the community. She also went onto say that whatever decision the community make, they must ensure that fragmentation of the East Indian community should be avoided. This statement goes to show how despicable and discriminatory some members of society can be; their views can be seen as racial divisiveness. Accepting a dougla into their East Indian community threatens their norms and cultural values. This was the same view upheld by their Indian ancestors when inter-relationships began. Perhaps the groups are afraid that their cultural background would be lost in the future with the growing population of dougla off springs. Unfortunate to their disacknowledgement, many Douglas are interested in knowing about their culture from both sides and how it all started, so they can have a deeper appreciation for their self identity.

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Pictures of mixed persons also known as Douglas

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Pictures of mixed persons also known as Douglas

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Chari, Sangita. 'One Together and One Apart': Interracial Marriages between Indo-Trinidadian Women and Afro-Trinidadian Men. Thesis. University of Florida, 2005. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Web. 2017. <http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UFE0011839/00001/39j>.

Clyne, Kalifa. "Douglas: Where Do They Fit In?" Outlish 16 Aug. 2010: n. pag. Web. 2017. <http://www.outlish.com/douglas-where-do-they-fit-in/>.

Complilation of Lyrics of Split me in Two by Mighty Dougla. Personal photograph by author. 2017.

Tyehimba. "Re: Doulga Dilemma." Blog comment. Trinidad and Tobago News. N.p., 16 May 2005. Web. 2017. <http://www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/forum/webbbs_config.pl?md=read;id=2849>.

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De Boissière, Jean. "The East Indians in Trinidad." The Caribbean History Archives. Paria Publishing Co LTD, 25 July 2012. Web. 2017. <http://caribbeanhistoryarchives.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-east-indians-in-trinidad.html>.

Mangla, Shubhi. "Dougla (Dogla): The Mixed Ancestry." NewsGram. NewsGram Desk, 22 Apr. 2016. Web. 2017. <http://www.newsgram.com/dougla-dogla-the-mixed-ancestory/>.

Images
-Mixed Persons of African and Indian Descent. N.d. Google Images, In the Caribbean.

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"Discrimination and Prejudice." ESchoolToday. N.p., 2008. Web. 2017. <http://eschooltoday.com/discrimination-and-prejudice/effects-of-discrimination.html>.

George, Hudson. "Derrick Abdul Salick – “Douglas” in Trinidad and Tobago." Editorial.Guyanese Online. N.p., 20 June 2013. Web. 2017. <https://guyaneseonline.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/derrick-abdul-salick-douglas-in-trinidad-and-tobago/>.

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Despite many facing challenges, most Douglas are proud to be from both races. The history of both groups is so impeccable; to know about the struggles their ancestor faced for them to be where they are at now, is impressive. Brother Marvin a calypsonian sang “Jahaji Bhai” in 1995 which expressed that he is came from people from Indian and Africa which is such a privilege to be of a unique heritage. He also speaks to there being no room for prejudice and that we should embrace the racial unity. Jahaji Bahi speaks of brotherhood and togetherness which must be appreciated, despite the difference in their racial background. This song is a true example to how the Caribbean society should view and act towards Douglas.  Douglas themselves should not feel any negative self perception, as they can be the unifying bridge to harmonious coexistence; bring together both ethic groups so as to stop the racial divide. Despite being proud of the background some people still choose to be Afro- Trinidadian or Indo- Trinidadian than embracing the two. It’s sad that fear of rejection makes some dougla a bit apprehensive and not truly appreciate the beauty in being predominantly different backgrounds. Nevertheless those who consider themselves both will be the ones to gain a better understanding of the Caribbean history and their Indo and Afro ancestors’ struggles and accept their self identity.

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After studying the life of a dougla person in the Caribbean one can see that even though they are a minority group in the society who are often faced with challenges, there are still a growing number of them being born. Some day this divide would cease to exist because people more tolerance in intercultural relationships today as oppose to before and people are seeing the beauty in these unique persons.

Caribbean Civilization is a very important course as it teaches a revisionist perspective on the Caribbean which gives one a different view than what was already taught in lower levels of their education. Also for those who pursue different courses in life that don’t need a historical background into the Caribbean, this course gives those students the knowledge they didn’t know before and may come to give them a better understanding of their self identity being a Caribbean person.

With this course, students in the Caribbean were able to integrate with each other as the forum for learning facilitated conversations on topics that help them to further educate each other on their experiences and life on the different islands. Emotionally I was impacted as it gave me a deeper appreciation of self identity as the course gave a different look of the Caribbean and its people.

Moving forward in life, Caribbean civilization would leave people to think more critically and analytically of things that go on around them in the Caribbean. It was indeed a pleasure doing this course.

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Complilation of Lyrics of Jahaji Bhai by  Brother Marvin song. Personal photograph by author. 2017.

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Bharrat, Sara. "The Dougla Defect." Blog post. WithoutWax. N.p., 15 Dec. 2013. Web. <https://withoutwaxgy.com/2013/12/15/the-dougla-defect/>.

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Reddock (1994) in her examination of attitudes towards interracial marriages from the perspective of mixed race children (Douglas) argued that this group of children is most impacted by interracial marriage and they hardly voice their opinions on the fact.  In the research it appeared that those Douglas whose community and parents who were opened to the issue of the mix in cultures; were the ones who were positive about themselves. Many of these children feel devalued by their community due to their mixed identity; often have the most negative reactions towards either Afro-Trinidadian or Indo-Trinidadians. As a result they see themselves as belonging to one ethnic community.  Reddock’s study also highlights the importance of moving past generalizations about attitudes and reactions to interracial marriages. Another issue highlighted was the impact of family relationships and acceptance as a critical indicator of the mixed race person’s identification with either their East Indian or African community.  Until the attitudes of community members change, dougla persons will have a dislike towards one of their mixed ethnicity over the other. Hence people should become more accepting because we are one people living in Trinidad and Tobago and need to interact with each other for survival.