Dougla
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Dougla, a word used by people of the West Indies, especially in, but not limited to, Trinidad and Tobago, comes from dogala, the Hindustani word for "bastard".
It was often used by people of Hindustani descent (i.e. East Indians) when referring to a person who was of mixed descent. This included anyone who was not a pure blooded member of a single caste. In the West Indies, as caste decreased in importance and intermarriage between castes became more common, this word became less used when referring to people as long as they were full-blooded Indians. However, "dougla" continued to be used frequently when referring to people of mixed African and Hindustani descent. This reflected widespread Hindustani opposition to interracial marriage. Their opposition was caused mainly by two factors: their desire to preserve Hindustani culture and racial tension between Blacks and Indians. Many Blacks also opposed interracial marriage because of anti-Indian prejudices. They, too, began referring to people of mixed race as "douglas".
Today, most people are unaware of the real meaning of "dougla". They simply think it means "a person of multi-racial descent". Despite its original use as a racial slur, "dougla" is becoming increasingly used by people of mixed race to describe themselves.
Many calypsonians, politicians and artists have become proponents of "douglarisation", or the mixing of both the people and cultures of Afro-Trinidadians and Indo-Trinidadians, citing it as an effective solution to the racial tension that exists in Trinidadian society.
One calypsonian, the Mighty Dougla, described the predicament of "douglas" in the 1960s:
"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 a dozen of the other
So if they sending all these people back home for true
They got to split me in two,"
In the French West Indies (Guadeloupe, Martinique) where they used to be called Batazendien or Chapé-Coolie (having escaped the indian condition, alluding to the persecution of indians by the blacks in post-slavery times) and in St. Lucia, the Afro-Indians now tend to be highly considered, as having the favourable attributes of both their origins. Their number is constantly increasing and they are treated with respect.
[edit] External links
- "Multiracial Identities In Trinidad and Guyana: Exaltation and Ambiguity", Camille Hernandez-Ramdwar University of Toronto — see section 2 entitled "Douglas"
- "Indian presence and contribution in the Caribbean"
- "150 years of Indian arrival commemorated in Guadeloupe by all citizens"
In Jamaica, the terms Coolie and Babbu may be used to mean the same thing as dougla as used in Trinidad and Tobago.
