Callaloo or Tossed Salad?: East Indians and the Cultural Politics of Identity in Trinidad

Viranjini P. Munasinghe

Published by Cornell University Press 2001

Callaloo or Tossed Salad?

East Indians and the Cultural Politics of Identity in Trinidad

Viranjini P. Munasinghe

https://doi.org/10.7591/9781501729041

Overview
Contents

About this book

Callaloo or Tossed Salad? is a historical and ethnographic case study of the politics of cultural struggle between two traditionally subordinate ancestral groups in Trinidad, those claiming African and Indian descent. Viranjini Munasinghe argues that...

Author / Editor information

Viranjini Munasinghe is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Asian-American Studies at Cornell University.

Reviews

This innovative study of identity construction of Indo-Trinidadians is a valuable contribution to the growing body of scholarship on the East Indian diaspora in the Caribbean, as well as to comparative ethnic studies.... Munasignhe's book is grounded in solid ethnographic fieldwork in villages with colonial plantation origins, but is also attentive to history, and especially postcolonial politics up to the 1990s, when Indo-Trinidadians wrested political power from Afro-Trinidadians.

Frank J. Korom:

Munasinghe here deftly probes the dynamics of ethnicity and nationalism by examining the strategies used by east Indians to gain a secure and acknowledged place in Trinidadian politics and culture.

James G. Carrier:

Although this book is about Trinidad, Munasinghe's argument bears, at least in principle, on all countries that see themselves as being made up of a variety of immigrant groups of distinct cultural identity.... Even so, Callaloo or Tossed Salad? is sure to attract anthropologists interested in the Caribbean, both because of the importance of Trinidad within the region and because of the region-wide issues that is raises. It should attract anthropologists interested in identity and national politics more generally, for the descriptive material is complimented by a useful and interesting analytical framework of broader applicability. It is nice to see a tale this interesting told this well.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
[1] Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
[2] Ethnicity and Nation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
[3] Foretelling Ethnicity: East Indians between Ex-Slaves and Planters Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	43
[4] Situating Ethnicity: East Indians against the Nation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
[5] To Be Ethnic in a Place in Between Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
[6] To Be Mixed Up in a Place in Between Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	135
[7] Nation Building within the State: Consolidating an Afro-Caribbean Nation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	182
[8] Breaking the Silence: The Disintegration of Hegemonic Rule Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	228
[9] Redefining the National Image Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	246
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	285
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	303

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 336
Illustrations
- Other: 4 maps, 2 line drawings, 3 tables
Keywords: Latin American & Caribbean Studies; Anthropology

eBook

Published: September 5, 2018
ISBN: 9781501729041