Joshold, June 19, 2023
In the Caribbean, there exists a prominent ethnic group of
mixed African and South Asian ancestry known popularly as the Dougla people.
The Dougla people makeup a significant portion of the populations of Trinidad
and Tobago, Guyana, and Suriname, however, similar communities also exist in
the French Antilles, where they are referred to as the Batazendyen or
Chapé-Kouli. After the abolition of slavery in the 19th century, thousands of
peasant workers from India were transported to the Caribbean by European
colonial authorities in an effort to maintain the profitable sugarcane and
cotton plantations. The vast majority of these Indian immigrants were from
Northern India, however, a significant minority also originated from Southern
India and were members of the Tamil or Telugu ethnic group. These newly-arrived
Indians were placed under indentured labor contracts and were promised money
upon completion of their contracts. Although the Indians worked alongside
emancipated Afro-Caribbean laborers in the plantations, they lived in separate
housing residences and had limited interactions with others outside their own
communities. Later on, some members of the Indian community began forming
relationships with their Afro-Caribbean neighbors and later intermarried with
them. This led to the formation of a mixed-race Afro-Indian population known as
the Dougla people.
The term "Dougla" originates from the Bhojpuri
dialect of the Hindi language spoken by many of the Indentured Indian laborers
and literally translates to the words "Hybrid", "Blend", or
"Two-necked". The term Dougla has long been used in the rural areas
of Northern India and mainly refers to someone whose parents belong to
different Hindu castes. In the Caribbean, the term "Dougla" refers
exclusively to people of mixed Afro-Caribbean and Indian ancestry and generally
carries a positive connotation, however, some consider the term offensive in
certain contexts. The Dougla people have greatly enriched the general cultural
landscape of the Caribbean by helping blend Afro-Caribbean and Indian cuisine,
music, and dance. The Dougla people have also historically played a significant
role in bridging the gap between Afro Caribbean and Indo-Caribbean communities
by helping promote understanding and unity between the two communities.
Timestamps:
Introduction - 0:00
History - 0:24
Origin of the term "Dougla" - 1:27
Contributions of the Dougla People - 2:01
-snip-
I reformatted this video summary to enhance its readability.
-snip-
A commenter in this video's discussion thread noted that the narrator incorrectly pronounced the word "Dougla". According to that commenter, the word "dougla" is pronounced "doo-la". Another commenter on another YouTube discussion thread wrote that "dough-lah" is pronounced like "dough" (as in bread dough) + gla (as in glad".). A commenter on yet another discussion thread wrote that "Dougla" is pronounced "doe-la" (with "doe" being the English word for deer) .
The beginning sound for "dougla" isn't pronounced like the male name "Douglas" and has an entirely different etymology than that Irish name.
****
Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases a YouTube video about "Dougla" and other referents in the Caribbean for African-South Asian* people.
This post presents an excerpt from the Wikipedia page on "Dougla" and also presents an exerpt from another online article on this subject.
In addition, some comments about this subject from three YouTube discussion threads are included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the producer and publisher of this embedded video.
-snip-
*In this pancocojams post the referent "South Asian" primarily refers to people from India. "Some of the people who are now referred to as "South Asians" used to be referred to as "East Indians".
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/10/what-terms-south-asian-or-desi-mean.html for the related pancocojams post entitled "What The Terms "South Asian" And "Desi" Mean (With A University Journal Excerpt About Skin Color & South Asian/Desi People)".
****
WIKIPEDIA PAGE EXCERPT
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dougla_people
"Dougla people (plural Douglas) are Caribbean people who are
of mixed African and Indian descent. The word Dougla (also Dugla or Dogla) is
used throughout the Dutch and English-speaking Caribbean.
Definition
The word Dougla originated from doogala (दोगला), which is a Caribbean
Hindustani word that literally means "two-necks" and may mean
"many", "much" or "a mix".[1] In the West Indies,
the word is used only for mixed race Afro-Indians.[2] The word has its
etymological roots in Hindi, where "do" means "two" and
"gala" means "throat," potentially referring to people who
could speak Indian and African languages.
The 2012 Guyana census identified 29.25% of the population as Afro-Guyanese, 39.83% as Indo-Guyanese, and 19.88% as "mixed," recognized as mostly representing the offspring of the former two groups.[3]
In the French West Indies (Guadeloupe, Martinique), mixed Afro-Indian people used to be called Batazendyen or Chapé-Kouli and in Haiti they were called Marabou.
History
There are sporadic records of Indo-Euro interracial
relationships, both consensual and nonconsensual, before any ethnic mixing of
the African and Indian variety.[4]
Other Indo-based types of mixed heritage (Indo-Chinese (Chindians), Indo-Latino/Hispanic (Tegli), Indo-English (Anglo-Indians), Indo-Portuguese (Luso-Indians), Indo-Irish (Irish Indians), Indo-Scottish (Scottish-Indians), Indo-Dutch, Indo-Arabs and Indo-Amerindian) tended to identify as one of the older, unmixed ethnic strains on the island: Afro, Indo, Amerindian or Euro or passing as one of them.[5]
In Trinidad culture
In 1961, the calypsonian musician Mighty Dougla (born Cletus
Ali) described the predicament of Douglas:[6]
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 dozen of the other,
So if they sending all these people back home for true,
They got to split me in two
— Split Me in Two
Notable Douglas*
Cletus Ali, Trinidadian musician, better known as Mighty
Dougla
Tatyana Ali, Indo-Trinidadian/Afro-Panamanian American
actress
Foxy Brown, rapper (United States; Trinidadian and
Tobagonian background)[9]
Super Cat, Jamaican deejay[10]
Mervyn Dymally, Trinidadian American politician[12]
Special Ed, rapper (United States; Jamaican background)
Melanie Fiona, Canadian singer
Marlene Malahoo Forte, politician (Jamaica)[13]
Kamala Harris, Vice-President of the United States (Jamaican
and South Indian)
Maya Harris, lawyer and writer (Jamaican and South Indian)
Lester Holt, U.S. news anchor and journalist[17][18]
Kenny J, calysonian[19]
Diana King, singer (United States; born in Jamaica)[20]
Sir Trevor McDonald, Trinidadian British news anchor and
journalist
Nicki Minaj, singer, rapper (United States; born in Trinidad
and Tobago)
Rajee Narinesingh, LGBT activist (United States; Trinidadian
and Tobagonian background)[21]
Luciano Narsingh, footballer (Netherlands; Surinamese
background)
Roxanne Persaud, politician (United States; born in
Guyana)[22][23][24]
Yendi Phillips, model (Jamaica)[citation needed]
Thara Prashad, American singer and model[25][26]
Toni-Ann Singh, Miss World 2019 (Jamaica)
XXXTentacion, rapper[29]
-snip-
Pancocojams Post: This is a partial list of the Notable people whose names are in that list]
A commenter in the discussion thread given as Source #3 given below also listed the R&B singers Genuwine and Chili as Douglas.
****
ARTICLE EXCERPT
From https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/guyanas-dougla-politics#:~:text=JUNE%2018%2C%202015-,Guyana%27s%20%27Dougla%27%20Politics,Gaiutra%20, published by Bahadur,2015
" "Dougla" is a slur meaning "bastard" or
"mutt." It has its origins in Bhojpuri, the dialect of Hindi spoken
by the majority of Indians who migrated as indentured laborers in the 19th and
early 20th centuries. In North India, the word was used to describe someone
with parents of different castes. It had the strong connotation of pollution,
since orthodox Hinduism saw relationships across caste as illegitimate. In the
Caribbean, the word was applied to the children of black and Indian parents.
Its sting was no less in this transplanted setting.
Despite the shortage of Indian women in indentured societies, very few relationships developed between Indian men and black women. Mutual distrust began with the first encounter, on boats from India where West Indian Blacks were seamen and Indians the human cargo. Indian women were sexually exploited by seamen of all races, but the crew were typically Black or white. And suspicions of the other persisted on plantations in Guyana, where Indians lived under a pass system that restricted their movements and kept them residentially separate from Africans — and where British colonial masters divided-and-ruled by placing Blacks in positions of authority over Indians, as "drivers" or sub-overseers in the sugar cane fields and as the policemen who often broke labor strikes and protests, sometimes with fatal violence. Africans, meanwhile, saw the Indians as imported scabs, a cheap and exploitable labor force meant to undercut their own bargaining power as newly emancipated workers. Cultural differences — language, religion, food — kept the two groups further apart. Exceptions existed. I found some century-old examples in British Colonial Office archives of black and Indian couples, but for the most part the two groups remained sexually separate, and "douglas" continued to be stigmatized. It remains a difficult identity to negotiate.
In recent years, however, the word has been reclaimed, with scholars of the Caribbean from Yale to the University of the West Indies exploring what precisely the imaginative category "dougla poetics," a sensibility in music and literature based in mixed roots, might mean.”…
****
SELECTED COMMENTS
These discussion threads are given in no particular order. The sources are numbered for referencing purposes only.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4YUeSU2iR0 [This is the discussion thread for the video that is embedded in this post.]
1. @tonycheny2309, 2023
"Yeah, I'm from Martinique (French West Indies) and Indians
are about 8 to 10% of the population. Most of them are Tamils and largely mixed
with Martinicans of African ancestry. Their culture has permeated in the
Martinican culture, most notably through our cuisine and their religious
practices remain vivid ("bondieu coolie"). As you mentioned, mixed
people are called "chapé coolie" (half Indian) and some prominent
politicians are from that ethnic group (most notably the current president of
the autonomous body that governs Martinique). I must also mention that Aimée
Cesaire, great poet and politician was partly from Indian ancestry. The Indians
in Martinique are generally referred to as "Coolies", but since a
revival of the Indian identity that dates back a decade or more ago, the term
has become a little bit pejorative and "Zindien", a word taken from
Guadeloupean kreyol is preferred"
****
YOUTUBE DISCUSSION THREAD #2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwvmFIcGDlQ&t=76s A Mix of Indians and Africans in South America? People of
Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, published by Masaman, Jul 15, 2017
The nations of Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana are some
of the most fascinating places to learn about in the entire world, being a mix
of mostly Indian and African culture in the continent of South America, but how
did this come to be?
1. @mickeledodson1428, 2017
"As a dougla guyanese person, theres some slight corrections
i would like to make.
1. the term "dougla" is not applied to all mixes
2. it is only used for persons of african and indian descent
3. there are other terms of persons who are biracial such as
boufiyana for persons of Amerindian and african descent
4. among the guyanese the word "cook up" is
applied to persons who are multiracial (3 or more ethnic races). this is done
because the meal cook up requires alot of ingredient while the individuals have
alot of ethnic mixes.
not a point more of a fun fact these terms have originated
from the creole language spoken. and the term of dougla (once again african and
indian) is also used in other islands such as Trinidad because of how common
the mixture is.
it was a very insightful video"
**
Reply
2. @valinis7086, 2018
"Essequibo river Amazona
as a Guyanese born and raised in Berbice I have heard of those terms
before, in school we would refer to our mixed friends as " cook
up" not being disrespectful or rude
but done in a joking manner, also bufiyana is a common term used alot I'm not
sure how you have never heard it before"
**
Reply
3. @michaelregis1015, 2019
"Mickele Dodson instead of 'cook up' Trinidadians say
'calalou'.(calalou is basically a veggie green gravy that's made up of so many
ingredients)"
Reply
4.
"@michaelregis1015 what about coolie sumtimes I get referred
coolie but I'm not full Indian I'm mixed I have a curly hair and if I take of
my glasses I look distinct of a dougla person"
**
Reply
5. michaelregis1015, 2019
"Young General well if someone is calling you a coolie then
they're probably trying to insult because the word coolie is a derogatory term
here used against Indians. Either that or they probably think that even though
you are a dougla, you look more Indian than African."
**
Reply
6. @SheldonY14, 2020
"I know I'm over two years late. And thank you for the
explanation. However I'd like to point out that although the word Dougla was/is
used for people mixed with Indian and African/Creole, it is now used for
everyone that has the Dougla hair or is mixed.
So a Dougla could also be Indian, Chinese and Black or Indian,
Indonesian and Black or sometimes Indonesian and Black or Chinese and Black
etc. The other words for African mix Amerindian etc. aren't really used very
often. The two most famous words to describe people who are mixed in Suriname
are either "Gemengd" (which
translates to Mixed) or Dougla (especially if they have the Dougla curly hair)."
**
Reply
7. @goldaganeshdin2269, 2020
"I grew up knowing that mix of Indian and African is termed
"duglah". Amerindians and African mix called "buffiana"
Portuguese and African "santantone" however from the 90s the terms
aren't so prevalent only buffiana and duglah I hear now. When you're
multiracial well I have heard many terms used"cook-up" mix up"and
even "cosmopolitan" I think the country areas the terms were mostly
used. I grew up in the country."
**
Reply
8. @siegghynss5742, 2021
"in Suriname it used to be the term for indian mix african(
in the past). now its used for any mix race, since we have more races in Suriname than Guyana..you dont know
what you see nowadays..like every child has different races in them. I love my
country Suriname"
YOUTUBE DISCUSSION THREAD #3
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lojfq6kFLP0 "The DOUGLA - The People of BLACK&EAST INDIAN HERITAGE", published by REIGNofTEARS, Aug 11, 2020
1. @DipanjanPaul, 2021
"Hehe in India 'dogla' means two faced or double standard.
BTW the people shown on this video are beautiful and look
very much like the Habesha people"
**
Reply
2. @pearls1404, 2022
"Yes even in the Caribbean this word was original a slur from
hindi. I personally do not like to be called dougla and I prefer mixed"
****
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