Indo-Caribbeans in the UK

[mustang]

To those of you in the UK, have you had interactions with Indian-Caribbean people living in the UK? How are they seen in day to day life? Are they seen as Indian people or Caribbean or neither (as they say in this video)?

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/stories...-music-is-indo-caribbean-culture-under-threat

The Indian side of my family is Indo-Caribbean (Guyana, Trini, and Surinam) and I know that the community faces some very similar day to day experiences here in the US as they show in this video. People surprised that there are Indian ethnic people from the Caribbean, you are seen as neither here (Indian) nor there (Caribbean) ... etc etc. Would be interesting to see if any of you have interacted with this community in the UK.

 

[JaDed]

There are many in Toronto and they are very different to Indians as such.

Though there are certain similarities in food and they do listen to bollywood music but lifestyle wise they are more near to Carribbeans as such.

Love doubles , had it first time last year.

 

[Salman]

They don't really have a strong identity as a noticeable community here in the UK and consider themselves more West Indian / Caribbean in life style and culture, they also do not really mix with the South Asians too much and keep to their own communities.

Tried listening to their fusion of bollywood music and it can be painful at times.

 

[JaDed]

They don't really have a strong identity as a noticeable community here in the UK and consider themselves more West Indian / Caribbean in life style and culture, they also do not really mix with the South Asians too much and keep to their own communities.

Tried listening to their fusion of bollywood music and it can be painful at times.

Chutney Soca , there are different from South Asians in culture..

 

[rahulrulezz]

My team is half Guyanese and I love their culture. They are sports loving, beer lovers, liberal, veryy vocal and loud, and are up for fight if pushed. Indians in general are more calmer, reserved, politer than them. They definitely inherited their partying and vocal part from afro Caribbeans. But I definitely see that they see themselves more of Indians than afro carribean.

Best part is Indo carribeans have their own fun rivalries between Guyana and Trinidad.

 

[troodon]

My neighbor a decade ago was a Guyanese Indian. Initially I thought he was a Hispanic. But one day I heard him listening to some Hindi songs. I spoke to him and he said he is from Guyana. He does not understand Hindi, but listens to Hindi Songs as a connection to India. He is a devout Christian though. He and his family used to pray regularly and hold prayer meetings.

 

[rahulrulezz]

My neighbor a decade ago was a Guyanese Indian. Initially I thought he was a Hispanic. But one day I heard him listening to some Hindi songs. I spoke to him and he said he is from Guyana. He does not understand Hindi, but listens to Hindi Songs as a connection to India. He is a devout Christian though. He and his family used to pray regularly and hold prayer meetings.

They not only listen to Hindi songs, they listen to olddddd Hindi songs. They can sing to it but don’t know the meaning of it. Just last week I saw this rich gangsta Trini with his hat and gold chain, on a traffic light. The guy was driving an open Mercedes sports car, while wearing sleeveless T-shirt, showing his bisceps and blasting Mohomad Rafi and Kishore Kumar songs at full volume. Tbh, a gangsta blasting Kishore Kumar slow songs sounds wrong but strangely he pulled it off.

 

[kingusama92]

There are many in Toronto and they are very different to Indians as such.

Though there are certain similarities in food and they do listen to bollywood music but lifestyle wise they are more near to Carribbeans as such.

Love doubles , had it first time last year.

Agreed.

I had an awesome Indo-Caribbean driving instructor and he could never pass as an Indian. Their way of living is definitely Carribean-centric.

 

[mustang]

Amazing to see consistent observations about our community across the pond as well. I know that our community is similar in the US and Canada, interesting to see that UK follows the similar path.

We are very chill beer drinking music loving fun people in general. But we never back down from any fight and only know of dealing with aggression with lots of aggression in return (maybe why many folks from our community in the US are veterans).

We also have very tight knit families. That being said, there is a friendly rivalry among Guyanese-Trini-Suriname. Add to this, my family also has some hispanic mix - so my extended family gathering (once a year) gets interesting. We have always seen ourselves less as Indians but of late there is a push in our community to learn more about our Indian roots (I got interested to explore my Indian roots exactly that way). My mom's side has a smattering of hispanic and I am closer to those relatives (speak fluent Espanol). Until I spent 2 years in India, it was an "far away" place that I know little of.

Fun facts - Just like in South Africa, the British separated early Indians and the African people, preventing each group from mingling with the other group. But unlike South Africa, over time those barriers were thrown away and we have had a great cultural, music, cuisine, and ethnic mix between the 2 communities (I would say due to lack of Apartheid type regime here). We have also never had major religious issues among the communities here (Christians, Muslims, and Hindus). I know of quite a few Surinam folks with origins in Pakistan from 100 years ago. They are muslims (practicing and non-practicing) but at the end of the day they dress, behave, look the same as others, sometimes even named as others. Religious difference was never a major issue in our community so it was interesting for me to see the animosity in the "motherland" but I guess 1000+ years of history has its own ways of weighing down perceptions in people's minds.

 

[Pakistanian]

Can we call them South Asians? I don't think so, they're just Caribbean.

 

[junoon]

How is inter-marriage between indians and africans in the Caribbean viewed by both races?

I think Shimron hetmyer's girlfriend is indo-Guyanese.

 

[junoon]

Can we call them South Asians? I don't think so, they're just Caribbean.

Then how will pakistanis and indians now living in North America be defined say 100 years from now. Will they no longer remain Pakistani or indian even if they did not marry outside their race or religion, and have the same ancestry

 

[Pakistanian]

Then how will pakistanis and indians now living in North America be defined say 100 years from now. Will they no longer remain Pakistani or indian even if they did not marry outside their race or religion, and have the same ancestry

Maybe but we live in the 21st century, fast travel, social media, instant communication - these people moved in the 1800s, they were completely cut off from the old country. So all those variables will play a huge role.

 

[mustang]

Some links of interest to the Pakistanis in this forum

Pakistani Caribbean community - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistani_diaspora_in_the_Caribbean

Pakistanis in British Guyana back in the day - https://www.caribbeanmuslims.com/th...community-of-british-guiana-and-pakistan-1947

Two British Guyana muslim women contributing to the creation of Pakistan - https://www.caribbeanmuslims.com/two-british-guiana-begums/

 

[Amirforpresident]

In the Netherlands we’ve a lot of people from Surinam who are originally from India. They dont consider themselves Indian but do have a lot of things in common culturally like watching Bollywood movies and listening to Indian songs. IT is very easy though to spot an Indian in a group of Indian-Surinami’s