Book Description

"Multiple constructions of India, as homeland, have been central to the shaping of Indo-Guyanese identity. An imagined India part fact, part fantasy has continually woven into the Indo-Guyanese consciousness a rich, elevating perception of self: an antidote to the deflating image of the coolie that lingered when the last Indian indentures were cancelled in 1920. In Mother India s Shadow over El Dorado: Indo-Guyanese Politics and Identity, 1890s-1930s, Clem Seecharan reconstructs the circumstances surrounding the development of Indo-Guyanese nationalism. He assesses the impact of the Golden Age of the Ramayana; the glories of ancient India unearthed by British scholars/administrators (Indologists); and Gandhi s virtual deification in his campaign for India s freedom. An India seen to be in revolt against imperial rule inspired several Indo-Guyanese intellectuals, such as Joseph Ruhomon, Peter Ruhomon and J.I. Ramphal, to popularise an image of Mother India that bolstered Indo-Guyanese self-esteem. Drawing on a range of primary sources, the book presents a comprehensive picture of the many Indias Indo-Guyanese (Hindus, Muslims and Christians) embraced in countering the coolie stain, while seeking to belong in creole society. On the flip side, the consuming El Dorado syndrome in Guyana bred a discernible triumphalism among Indo-Guyanese, manifested in the Colonisation Scheme of the 1920s and the associated ideas of creating an Indian colony or a Greater India in Guyana. This kindled a resilient fear, among African-Guyanese, of Indian economic and political domination which still haunts the country. Seecharan handles these complex issues lucidly and authoritatively. Mother India s Shadow is indispensable in comprehending the smouldering ethnic insecurities of contemporary Guyana. " "