Legacy of Slavery and Indentured Labour

Linking the Past with the FutureConference on Slavery, Indentured Labour, Migration, Diaspora

and Identity Formation.June 18th – 23th, 2018, Paramaribo, Suriname

Org. IGSR & Faculty of Humanities and IMWO, in collaboration with Nat. Arch. Sur.

HOW DOES THE POLITICIZATION OF CULTURAL MEMORY MARGINALIZE THE SOUTH ASIAN/ INDIAN MUSLIM DIASPORA IN TRINIDAD AND GUYANA?

KARIMAH RAHMAN (PHD STUDENT IN POLICY STUDIES)

Abstract This paper will explore the question, "How does the Politicization of Cultural Memory Marginalize the South Asian/ Indian Muslim Diaspora in Trinidad and Guyana"? The politicization of cultural memory marginalized the South Asian/ Indian Muslim diaspora in Trinidad and Guyana by virtue of the various attempts to manipulate acknowledgement of Islamic/ Muslim presence in the region leaving a solely Hindu print in the status quo South Asian/ Indian national memory narrative (discourse) in Trinidad and Guyana, until a few scholars recently started focusing on this heavily understudied academic category as a form of counter-memory. The various attempts executed to erase acknowledgement of Muslim presence was acknowledging Muslim presence among the first South Asians/ Indian indentured labourers on the first ships to Trinidad and Guyana, erasing Muslim participation in rebellions against British colonization and erasing Muslim presence in academic literature on South Asians/ Indians in the Caribbean, rendering them invisible. Muslim South Asian/ Indian identity is marginalized when juxtaposed to Hindus in a dichotomous relationship by questioning their South Asian/ Indian "authenticity" based on a hierarchy thus rendering them homeless with no sense of belonging. Research on the Indian diaspora in the Caribbean became synonymous to research on the Hindu diaspora.

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Introduction

Islam is an international religion with practitioners dispersed across all regions of the globe. One region that is not widely known for its niche Islamic community is the West Indies (Caribbean). Muslims are predominantly among the South Asian/ Indian community, who arrived as indentured labourers after the abolishment of slavery in 1834 replacing the system of slavery with a new re-invented system of indentured servitude (Khanam and Chickrie 2009, 207). The first South Asians/ Indians arrived in Guyana in 1838 on the Whitby and Hesperus ships and in Trinidad they arrived in 1845 on the Fatel Razack (Victory to Allah the sustainer/ provider) ship. South Asians/ Indians continued to arrive as indentured labourers in the Caribbean till this system was abolished in 1917 and emigration ended in 1928 (Khanam and Chickrie 2009, 207). "There were Muslims, Hindus and Christians among the South Asians/ Indians that came to Trinidad and Guyana" (Rahman 2018, 1). Muslims encompassed approximately 12 % of the South Asian/ Indian population in Guyana and 6% in Trinidad (Mahabir 2004, 446, Khanam and Chickrie 2016, 109). "These South Asians/ Indians were predominantly from northern India, with 85% of them derived from the Uttar Pradesh and Bihar regions (heavily influenced by Hindi dialects (like Bhojpuri) and Urdu etc.) and 15% came from the southern Indian state, Madras (heavily influenced by Tamil, Telugu etc.) (Khanam and Chickrie 2009, 205)" (Rahman 2018, 1). These South Asian/ Indian Muslims are predominantly Sunni of the Hanafi madhab of fiqh (school of jurisprudence) with a small Shiite minority (Chickrie 1999, 181). The South Asian/ Indian Muslim communities within Trinidad and Guyana have similar origins, ethnic compositions and religious sects therefore their Islamic practices will be extremely similar in both countries (Chickrie 1999, 181).

The Muslim South Asian diasporic community in Trinidad and Guyana were dispersed unwillingly by virtue of dislocation through the trauma of indentured servitude from the nostalgic homeland of South Asia/ India (Hua 2005, 193). Since the Muslim South Asians/ Indians in Trinidad and Guyana are a part of the wider South Asian/ Indian diaspora, these communities must deal with their dislocation in regards to their host countries (Trinidad and Guyana), while still pinning for their South Asian/ Indian motherland (Hua 2005, 193). Therefore these South Asians/ Indians form a diasporic identity based on the ongoing orientation of involvement, remembering, desiring towards the motherland (regardless of geographical separation by distance) thus inducing the manifestation of displacement based on collective longing, memories, myths and visions of a homeland (Hua 2005, 193, 195). This South Asian/ Indian identification is linked by networks giving them a sense of community because of kinship, culture, language and ritual that is intensified in minority populations (Hua 2005, 192). They developed a group consciousness or solidarity based on their political discrimination as a unitary group and they attempted to preserve this identity against assimilation in the host nation (Hua 2005, 192).

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The relationship between the cultural memory and collective history of a country's national status quo narrative becomes politicized based on what is selected and represented in the discourse. The decision of selecting what cultural memory or collective history to represent in a county's national narrative is political since these decisions benefit those who have more agency, power, privilege, usually due to majoritarian reasons. These decisions are based on the politics of belonging or identity politics because selection and representation determines whose cultural memory or collective history is "authentic" and who is included or excluded of the national status quo. Therefore the cultural memory or collective history represented in a county's national narrative it that of the majority population, rendering minorities written out, forgotten and homeless with no sense of belonging. The voice of those marginalized or subjugated can be herd through the politicized act of remembering by virtue of counter memory, where the holes in the cultural memory or collective history of a country's national discourse could be filled by members of the community marginalized as an act of protest or resistance. The dominant national discourse is rarely based on generating alternative narratives of the past from the view, lived experience or history of those marginalized (Hodgkin and Radstone 2003, 7). Academia seldom explores this phenomenon in scholarly literature to "address marginalized suffering in a framework of trauma or memory" from those who are from the communities marginalized (Hodgkin and Radstone 2003, 7). I wish to break this trend in academia by exposing the minority Muslim South Asian/ Indian diasporic cultural memory in Trinidad and Guyana .

Memory is a tool used to interpret the Muslim South Asian Trinidadian and Guyanese affiliation to history, trauma and political struggles, with specific attention placed on their marginalized status in the history of these host countries. The memories of this community's identity were manipulated over time to depict a specific image of the host society, which excluded the Muslim South Asian/ Indian community, leaving a Hindu imprint void of Islam in history, until a few scholars started focusing on this heavily understudied academic category. "Academia left a void in the study of Muslim South Asians/ Indians in the Caribbean until Raymond Chickrie, Bibi Halma Khanam, Halima Kassim, Aisha Khan, Maurits S. Hassankhan, Nasser Mustapha, Brinsley Samaroo, Zainol Khan, Farouk Khan, Ellen Bal and Kathinka Sinha-Kerkhoff "filled the gap by truly shedding light on" the marginalization of Muslim South Asians/ Indians in the Caribbean (Rahman 2018, 2).

"The question then arises, "How does the Politicization of Cultural Memory Marginalize the South Asian/ Indian Muslim Diaspora in Trinidad and Guyana"? This paper will address why Muslim South Asian/ Indian identity is marginalized when juxtaposed to Hindus in a dichotomous relationship. The politicization of cultural memory marginalizes the Muslims in Trinidad and Guyana by questioning their South Asian/ Indian "authenticity" based on a hierarchy thus rendering them homeless with no sense of belonging. The crux of my thesis is that the politicization of cultural memory marginalized the South Asian/ Indian Muslim diaspora in Trinidad and Guyana by virtue of the various attempts to systematically erase acknowledgement of Islamic/ Muslim presence in the region leaving a solely Hindu print in the country's status quo

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South Asian/ Indian narrative and national memory discourse in Trinidad and Guyana. These various attempts were executed by erasing acknowledgement of Muslim presence among the first South Asian/Indians to the region on the first ships to Trinidad and Guyana as indentured labourers, erasing their participation in revolts against British colonization and erasing their presence in academic literature on South Asians/ Indians in the region, rendering them invisible. Muslim memory should not be marginalized in Trinidad and Guyana's status quo South Asian/ Indian narrative and national memory discourse because Muslims have a legitimate claim to South Asia/ India based on a strong cultural connection to the subcontinent. In order to protect Muslim South Asian/ Indian identity and culture, this community engaged in politicized counter-memory as a precaution to preserve their history.

This paper is not meant to generalize the South Asian/ Indian Muslim and Hindu communities as two monolithic homogenous groups naturally opposed to each other or "to paint any community in one brush stroke" (Rahman 2018, 3). Unlike the experience that exists between these two religious groups in the subcontinent, the relationship between Hindus and Muslims in the Caribbean is much more peaceful . "This research is not meant to create tension between these peaceful communities but to point out, complicate, make the invisible visible and shed light on the way we understand the construction of national cultural memory by noticing overwhelmingly concerning trends of marginalization that are occurring but rarely spoken of. This papers aims to draw connections, interpretations, gain insight and add to the arguments of current literature that explore the marginalization Muslims South Asians/ Indians face in Trinidad and Guyana's Hindu-centric national cultural memory/ history in an intricate, nuanced, original way" (Rahman 2018, 3). As an academic from this marginalized community I wish to give a voice to the lost intricate nuanced history of Muslim South Asian/ Indians in Trinidad and Guyana. This paper in itself is a form of counter-memory or protest coming from within the community, where I can use my academic power/ privilege in order to give agency to those who rarely were given the opportunity to have a voice .

Theoretical Framework

The leading scholars who explored the politicized relationship between cultural memory/ collective history and selection/ representation in the national status quo discourse of a country are Hua, Legg, Preston, Tilly, Ricoeur, Weissberg, Bell, Ankersmit, Hodgkin and Radstone . The body of literature contributed by these scholars explains how cultural memory, oral/ written history (the past) are delicate but powerful instruments that should be questioned as sites of struggle for individual or collective memories (or memorialization) since memory is a medium of cultural construction based on needs or desires of a community to document their "traditions, rituals and history" (Hua 2005, 204). Memory is a site of political struggle since what occurred in the past can be negotiated, claimed and invented since memory and history are subjective or malleable instead of objective or concrete (Hua 2005, 198, 199). Memory and history are "faculties that are appropriated, politicized and nationalized" since different representations vie

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for a place in history or different groups compete in order to establish legitimacy because if "one controls people's memory, one controls their dynamism"(Tilly 1994, ix, Hua 2005, 200). This is why it is imperative to ask "who wants whom to remember what and why?, whose version of the past is preserved and recorded? what is concealed from us?" and what is fictitious to prompt us within a distinct cultural tradition?" (Hua 2005, 200, Legg 2005, 456, 458).

The relationship between the cultural/collective memory and cultural/ collective history of a country's national status quo narrative becomes politicized when history is abused based on what is selected and represented in the official state discourse (Ricoeur 2006, 17). These selective decisions of what historical events to represent or remember is known as the politics of selection based on the politics of belonging or identity politics because who is selected, represented and included determines whose cultural memory or collective history is deemed "authentic" to be "officially" remembered nationally (Legg 2005, 459). These selective decisions are made based on the institutionalized dynamics of intricate power relations as an instrument of domination , to manipulate remembrance in hegemonic fashion representing the majority in "official" national memory/ history. The majority have more power to promote their group-self definitions, rendering minorities written out or forgotten , in the codified national "official" history with no sense of belonging.

"The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting" (Legg 2005, 458). Counter memory can be defined as a political act of resistance or re-claiming for justice by giving agency to those ignored by remembering forgotten history and mobilizing dominant narratives since what was forgotten in national memory is just as important as what is remembered (Hua 2005, 192, 200, 204). By engaging in the medium of memory studies, scholars and community members can understand how power operates in hegemonic "official" majoritarian memory and institutionalized forgetting of minority history. The holes in the cultural memory or collective history of a country's national discourse can be filled by Counter Memory from members of the marginalized community (such as scholars) who understand the intersections of oppression and their research can be a form of protest to restore the past in order to transform the national narrative of the future to be more inclusive (Hua 2005, 200, 204). Counter memory can never fully protect against forgetting, since there will always be a sense of lost that can never completely reclaim what had been (Weissberg 1999, 11). TRINIDAD AND GUYANA CASE STUDY

Various Attempts to Systematically Erase Islamic/ Muslim Presence From the National Memory, History and Narrative in Trinidad and Guyana The politicization of cultural memory marginalized the South Asian/ Indian Muslim diaspora in Trinidad and Guyana by various attempts to systematically erase Islamic/ Muslim presence in the region leaving a solely Hindu print in the country's status quo South Asian/ Indian narrative and national memory discourse in both countries. Due to spatial restrictions this paper will focus on

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the erasure of Islamic/ Muslim presence among the first South Asians/ Indian indentured labourers on the first ships to Trinidad and Guyana, erasing Muslim participation in rebellions against British colonization and erasing Muslim presence in academic literature on South Asians/ Indians in the Caribbean, rendering them invisible. This systematic erasure has led to gross inaccurate myths surrounding the memory and history of South Asian Muslims in Trinidad and Guyana.

Erasure of Muslim Presence Among the First Indentured Labourers to Trinidad and Guyana

Until the scholars Chickrie, Khanam, Samaroo and Farouk Khan's research contained explicit detailed information regarding Muslim presence among the first South Asian/ Indian indentured labourers in Trinidad and Guyana, this acknowledgement was unheard of and it is only becoming known in the academic sphere recently. Two films explaining indentured servitude, Rohit Jagessar's "Guiana 1838" and Suresh Pillai's "Jahaji Bhai" both did not acknowledge that there were any Muslims in Guyana or Trinidad and the undisputable fact that Muslims were on the first ships to Guyana/ Trinidad was completely ignored (Chickrie and Khanam 2009, 202). The government-operated newspaper Guyana Chronicle published a census of religious affiliations on October 13th, 2005 and a category for Muslims was not made, therefore if someone was to glance at this information one would suspect Muslims did not come as indentured servants and there are no Muslims living in Guyana presently (Chickrie and Khanam 2009, 202). Therefore the trope of erasing and silencing Muslim presence in Trinidad and Guyana is perpetuated.

The presence of Muslims on the first ships to Guyana has been contested constantly and finally this myth is dispelled through Chickrie and Khanam's research. Their research revealed that 94 Muslims were on the first two ships (the Whitby and the Hesperus) to land in Guyana, in 1838 thus proving that Hindus were not solely on board these ships (Chickrie and Khanam 2009, 201). During indentured servitude 239, 909 South Asian/ Indian passengers came as indentured labourers to Guyana, with Muslims representing 20 per cent of this population, the second largest group after the Dhangur tribe and these 94 Muslims are apart of that 20 per cent (Chickrie & Khanam 2016, 109). The Whitby sailed from Calcutta on January 13th, 1838 and docked in Berbice on May 5th 1838 with 267 passengers (Chickrie and Khanam 2009, 201). Out of the 267 passengers 181 disembarked, out of the 166 males 45 were Muslims and among the six women only one was Muslim who accompanied her husband (Chickrie and Khanam 2009, 201). The Hesperus departed from Calcutta 16 days after the Whitby but anchored the same day on May 5th 1838 at Port Demerara with 157 Indian passengers (Chickrie and Khanam 2009, 206). On the Gladstone Plantation there were 14 Muslims, among them were Jeewoon Khaw (Irrwan Khan) who came with his wife Bharrupp, Coda Bukus, a Pathan from Ara (Bihar) and Uckloo who came with his wife and four children (Chickrie and Khanam 2009, 206). At least two Muslim men died on the Hesperus namely Soonawoolah and Kryamt and Kyut Alle was shown on the disembarked list but not the embarkation list (Chickrie and Khanam 2009, 206). The same myth

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was dispelled in Trinidad when records were found from the first ship, the Fatel Razack that docked in Trinidad on May 30th, 1845 carrying Muslims among the 213 indentured passengers (Samaroo 1988, 9, Farouk Khan 1996, 7). Muslim names such as "Causmolle Khan, Furreed, Emambocus, Faize Buxo, Madar Buxo, Aller, Omrudee, Muhourun, Bahadur, Emambocas and Faizan" were found in the ship's records (Samaroo 1988, 9, Farouk Khan 1996, 7). Muslim South Asian/ Indian presence on the first ships to Trinidad and Guyana was one of many forgotten memories or histories of South Asian/ Indian Muslims such as the erasure of Muslim participation in revolts against British colonization that was silenced as well.

Erasure of Muslim Presence in Resistance/ Rebellions Against British Colonization

Until Chickrie and Khanam's research contained explicit detailed information regarding Muslims participation in revolts/riots against British colonization, this acknowledgement was unheard of. By virtue of their research and acknowledgement of Muslim contributions during indentured servitude this information is finally becoming known in the academic sphere. A statement by Special Justice Coleman provided the first example of Muslim South Asian participation in revolts against the British in Guyana (Chickrie and Khanam 2009, 208). He states in a report that the first two South Asians/ Indians who rebelled against the horrific treatment and deplorable working conditions that indentured labourers were forced to endure were two Muslims from Bihar named Jumun and Pultun (Chickrie and Khanam 2009, 208). These two Muslims ran away from the plantation on October 11th, 1838, but soon after running away their bodies were found in the bushes in Mahaica (Chickrie and Khanam 2009, 208). In Trinidad Syed Abdul Aziz (the first Qadi (judge) in Trinidad) advocated for the abolishment of indentured servitude, he resisting British colonization and advocated for the government to recognize Hindu and Muslim marriages (Zainol Khan 2013, 44). Muslims have a history of resisting British colonization in South Asia as freedom fighters and many who resisted were sent to the Caribbean where they continued their resistance against British colonization (Chickrie 2010, 392). The research conducted on the 1913 riots by Dr. Mangru in his book "Indenture and Abolition: Sacrifice and Survival on the Guyanese Sugar Plantations", stated the names of the Muslim "riot-leaders", yet no acknowledgement of their Muslim background was mentioned in his research. I will analyse in further detail the Rose Hall sugar worker strike in 1913, which was a well-known rebellion against the British indenture system that was executed by South Asian/ Indian Muslims (Chickrie 2010, 392). Among the South Asian/ Muslim participants in the 1913 Rose Hall Riots are three Indians called Chotey Khan, Aladi and Amirbaksh and three Afghani Pathans called Moula Bux, Jahangir Khan and Dildar Khan (Chickrie 2010, 392).

Moula Bux brought awareness to the injustice of Jugmohan (Hindu Brahmin tokenized puppet of the British on the estates) who extorted, embezzled money from the indentured labourers wages by virtue of henchmen and he articulated that the four day holiday indentured labourers were authorized was not enforced (Mangru 1993, 83). When recruited at Kanpur, the complete detailed penal provisions in Guyana were not disclosed, had he know Khan would of chosen to

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never go to Guyana (Mangru 1993, 85). Moula Bux was given the nickname "munshiji (scribe/ writer)" since he was previously an office worker for a jute factory back in India (Mangru 1993, 86). He constantly criticized the British colonial unjust treatment of South Asians/ Indians who were overworked and underpaid (Mangru 1993, 86). Bux obtained a copy of the immigration ordinances when a medical officer discarded it in India, allowing him to understand how the British disregarded the penalty clauses when explaining the nature of the work required in Guyana (Mangru 1993, 86). The greatest threats to British hegemony on the estates were Khan and Bux (since he was literate), they would continuously vocalize the grievances faced by the South Asians/ Indians which led to riots and the British accused Bux of "deliberately misinterpreting the immigration ordinances" (Mangru 1993, 85).

The 1913 riots left the death toll at fifteen and injuries at forty-one after one hundred shots were fired from a violent British colonial response to the Muslim-led rebellion (Mangru 1993 82, 90). The five Muslim ring-leaders of the riots were charged and Smith appealed on February 17, 1913 for the ring-leaders and their wives to be dispersed to various other estates on the sugar belt (Mangru 1993, 85). "Jhangir Khan and his spouse Muradan were moved to the Plantation in Skeldon, Chotey Khan and Aladi to Uitvlught, Amirbaksh to De Kinderen and Moula Bux to Enmore" (Mangru 1993, 85). The ring-leaders were dispersed in order to diffuse unrest on the plantation by dissolving any interaction between them (Mangru 1993, 85). These ring-leaders were undesirable on the estates since they were in opposition to the natural order by posing a threat to the British hegemonic dominance (Mangru 1993, 85). These men did not accept their transfer but were contumacious and objected forcefully (Mangru 1993, 86). Bux's reaction was, ""My heart is at Rose Hall," he vociferated, striking his chest, "and if I go from here, it will be my dead body" (Mangru 1993, 86). Bux was equipped with a copy of the agreement that was made in South Asia/ India and Bux argued that it did not encompass any "references to transfer, or punishment by fine and imprisonment for refusal to work therefore the penal clauses of the colonial labour ordinances were conspicuously absent from the contract (Mangru 1993 86). Intending labourers seemed largely unaware of the penalties for even minor infractions of the law, therefore the estate management had no legal authority to transfer workers since there was no such references in the contract" (Mangru 1993 86). Due to Moula Bux's understanding of the immigration ordinances ("particularly the clauses relating to wages and hours of labor"), management on the plantations knew that he would utilize this information to resist the British due to his education and respected position in the South Asian/ Indian community at Rose Hall (Mangru 1993, 86). Estate Authorities instituted warrants for other leaders such as Dildar Khan for "unlawfully using threats of violence with intent" and on the 13th of March the police carried out the warrant but Khan and others equipped themselves with "sticks, assagais (spears fashioned from cutlasses attached to shovel sticks), bottles and bricks" as they resisted the British police (Mangru 1993, 86-87). Jahangir Khan claimed Motey Khan died from four gunshot wounds when he was wrestling in a trench with a British officer (Mangru 1993, 91).

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The Muslims that came to Trinidad and Guyana should be viewed as "authentic" South Asians/ Indians since many of them rebelled against the British in India alongside Hindus for a free India for everyone, such as in the 1857 Sepoy rebellion but were sent to Trinidad and Guyana as a result of being a freedom fighter (Chickrie 2010, 386). A known individual who rebelled against the British is a Pathan called Mazar Khan who was a freedom fighter during the 1880s mutiny against British colonization and he was then exiled among other freedom fighters to Guyana from Meerut, where the mutiny started (Chickrie 2010, 390). Muslims brought their mentality of resistance against oppression to fight for justice for all from South Asia/ India to the Caribbean. Chickrie and Khanam's research developed a counter-memory and provided another form of articulation, agency to the subjugated Muslims who did not receive explicit acknowledgement of their participation in the first rebellions or the Rose Hall Riots of 1913, where they were the major "ring leaders" (Hua 2005, 200). The history of Muslim South Asian/ Indians was marginalized again in academia in PhD dissertations, which are foundational to scholarly research. Erasure of Islamic/ Muslim Presence in Academia

The history of Muslim South Asians/ Indians in Trinidad and Guyana is directly linked to the subcontinent, but this history was ignored in academic literature by scholars specialized on South Asians/ Indians in the Caribbean (Chickrie 2007, 184). Most academic literature specialized on the descendants of indentured labourers seldom mentions Muslims except for the basic fact of their existence and when more detailed is provided it is usually regarding the minority Shiite practice of Hosay (Chickrie and Khanam 2009, 201). With a lack of Muslims acknowledged in academic research, Muslims are rendered invisible and Indian/ South Asian history in the region becomes equated with Hinduism or the Hindu Indian diaspora. The lack of South Asian/ Indian Muslim content in scholarly research was a barrier faced throughout my educational experience as many others have faced similarly when conducting research on Muslims in this region.

In order to demonstrate the Hindu-centric nature of South Asian/ Indian scholarly research in the Caribbean, this paper will analyse a few fundamental dissertations that were some of the most influential on the history of indentured labours in the region. Dissertations are viewed as the fundamental foundation for research on South Asians/ Indians in the Caribbean and are cited profusely in books or academic articles. I cannot analyse all scholarly books or articles on South Asian/ Indian Caribbean content but in order to attempt a more manageable content size, I will analyse the first few milestone PhD dissertations that paved the way for South Asian/Indian Caribbean content in academia. This body of PhD literature is extremely influential in understanding what is considered South Asian/ Indian content and how much space was given to Islamic/ Muslim content. I chose dissertations that mentioned South Asians/ Indians (East Indians) in the dissertation title with no emphasis on either Hinduism or Islam so that the topic of East Indians could be studied neutrally. I analysed these dissertations by combing through them looking for the terms Muslim or Muslims and Islam to be mentioned and determining how explicit the information is regarding the unique nature of Islam and Muslim identity in Trinidad

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and Guyana. Some notable PhD dissertations that will be analysed are by John Allen Perry, Mohammad Abdur Rauf, Lesley Marianne Potter and Surendra Kumar Gambhir.

John Allen Perry's dissertation was completed at the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1969. His dissertation was entitled "A History of the East Indian Indentured Plantation Worker in Trinidad 1845-1917". This is among the earliest dissertations on the subject of South Asians/ Indians in Trinidad and it is a foundation for research on that subject. This dissertation primarily focused on indentured servitude, how this system arose, the transportation of South Asians/ Indians to Trinidad, the mechanics of indentured servitude, the treatment of indentured labourers, the option of return to India, the consequences of indentured servitude on Indians and the practice of East Indian religions in the host society of Trinidad (Perry 1969, ix). Muslim/Muslims and Islam were mentioned in a total of eight times on pages 114, 117-118 and 136-137 in the dissertation surrounding two main topics, the Muslim family structure in regards to fidelity/ property rights and the Shiite festival Hosay. The majority of this dissertation of roughly 171 pages contained content on Hindu East Indians and the indentured servitude system, leaving only 5 pages with content on Muslims/ Islam.

Mohammad Abdur Rauf's dissertation was completed at The Ohio State University in 1969 and was entitled "Crabwood Creek: A Study of Cultural Continuity and Ethnic Identity on Different Generational Levels Among East Indians in Guyana". Rauf is a Pakistani who married a Guyanese South Asain/ Indian and conducted field research in Guyana during 1965 June to October in the village of Crabwood Creek (Rauf 1969, ix). Rauf's dissertation was based on the village activities (weddings, funerals, ritual worships, festivals), where interviews were conducted in Hindustani and English from first, second, third and fourth generation immigrants, analysing the original South/ Asian Indian cultural patterns and how they have been adapted in Guyana (Rauf 1969, xv). Muslims/ Islam was mentioned in the dissertation a total of 19 times. When Islam/ Muslims were mentioned it was in reference to a intermarriage in the village between a Hindu and Muslim, the percentage of Muslims in the village, how Muslim marriages were illegal and how jummah (Friday prayer) is performed in the masjid (Rauf 1969, 172, 173, 178, 179, 181, 183, 185). The majority of this dissertation of roughly 229 pages contained content on Hindu South Asian/ Indians in the village of Crabwood Creek regarding their religious books, Hindu temples, the Hindu marriage ceremonies were explained in extreme detail, the characteristics of a Hindu home, Hindu family structure (including the three different Hindu laws), the Hindu caste system, Hindu Gods/Goddesses and the Arya Samaj, leaving only 7 pages of content on Muslims/ Islam.

Lesley Marianne Potter's dissertation was completed at McGill University in 1975 and was entitled "Internal Migration and Re-Settlement of East Indians in Guyana, 1870-1920". Potters's dissertation was based on the internal movement of ex-indentured East Indians from coastal areas and the economic/ demographic impact of this migration on settlement and livelihood (Potter 1975, iii). The term "Moslem" was mentioned 4 times on 4 pages out of the 482 pages to

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simply give the percentage of Muslims in Guyana, some Muslims on estates were mentioned like two who lived on the Essequibo Coast and Islam was not mentioned at all. The paper describes Hindus in more detail about their religion (Hindu gods), the different castes, religious intermarriage, job limitations as Hindus, conversion, difficulties in obtaining vegetarian food and Hindu temples.

Surendra Kumar Gambhir's dissertation was completed at the University of Pennsylvania in 1981 and was entitled "The East Indian Speech Community in Guyana: A Sociolinguistic Study With Special Reference to Koine Formation". Gambhir's dissertation was based on a sociolinguistic study of Guyanese Bhojpuri and the koinization process developed from all the South Asian/ Indian dialect's linguistic roots from India that fused in Guyana (Gambhir 1981, 1). Muslims were mentioned in the dissertation a total of 7 times and Islam was not mentioned at all. When Muslims were mentioned it was a reference to the fact that Muslims came as indentured servants, they speak Urdu for religious rituals (such as namaz (prayer)), Muslim imams (religious leaders) were explicitly mentioned as speaking South Asian/ Indian indigenous languages well and the dialect Muslims in the northern Darbhanga district spoke was mentioned (Gambhir 1981, 5, 25, 26, 48, 288, 322 ). The majority of this dissertation of roughly 368 pages contained content on Hindu East Indians in reference to Hindi/ Hindustani, the Arya Samaj, Hindu values, the Hindu caste system, Hindu folksongs and pandits leaving only 6 pages of content that refers to Muslims/ Islam and the mentioning of Urdu.

Due to the word limit of this paper I could not analyse more PhD dissertations in greater depth. In all the PhD dissertations mentioned in the footnotes , there was a similar constant discourse of overwhelming Hindu content in reference to South Asian/ Indian indentured labourer history, with minor mentions of the existence of Muslims or no mention at all, thus equating the study of South Asians/ Indians with Hinduism. Two notable dissertations that focus heavily on Muslims in Trinidad is Robert Jack Smith's 1963 PhD dissertation entitled "Muslim East Indian in Trinidad: Retention of Ethnic Identity Under Acculturative Conditions" from the University of Pennsylvania and Aisha Khan's 1995 PhD dissertation entitled "Purity, Piety, and Power: Culture and Identity Among Hindus and Muslims in Trinidad" from the City University of New York.

Theoretical Analysis of the Case Study of Trinidad and Guyana

How the Politicization of Cultural Memory Marginalized the South Asian/ Indian Muslim Diaspora in Trinidad and Guyana?

The national cultural memory in Trinidad and Guyana should be questioned as sites of struggle since different representations vie for a place in history, which is a medium of cultural construction to document the traditions and rituals of the South Asian/ Indian community, especially within a diasporic context (Hua 2005, 204). South Asian/ Indian memory and history

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are appropriated sites of politicized/ nationalized struggle since what occurred in the past was selected, negotiated, claimed and invented in a subjective or malleable manner leaving a legitimized Hindu print void of Muslims representation in history/ memory (Hua 2005, 198, 199). The questions previously posed are answered, "who wants whom to remember what and why?, whose version of the past is preserved and recorded? what is concealed from us?" and what is fictitious to prompt us within a distinct cultural tradition?", clearly it is the Hindu past that is selected (by researchers and the community), preserved and recorded in the national history of South Asian/ Indians, while the Muslim past is erased (Hua 2005, 200, Legg 2005, 456, 458). This Hindu-centric selection is made based on institutionalized dynamics of intricate power (privilege) relations based on the politics of belonging or identity politics. Understanding how power operates uncovers the hegemonic status Hindus have assumed in the South Asian/ Indian "authenticity" hierarchy, which determined that Hindu cultural memory or collective history is deemed more "authentic" than Muslims to represent in the codified "officially" remembered national narratives in Trinidad and Guyana (Legg 2005, 459). Majority Hindu South Asian/ Indian "authenticity" allows Hindu memory/ history to be synonymous with South Asian/ Indian history/ memory rendering an institutionalized forgetting of Muslim minority history written out or forgotten with no sense of belonging.

Only more recently some Muslim descendants of indentured labourers in Trinidad and Guyana (scholars and community members) took the onus upon themselves to recollect the lived and oral history of their community as a political act of counter memory, resistance, re-claiming by giving agency to the ignored Muslim memory/ history by remembering what was forgotten in national memory (Hua 2005, 192, 200, 204). Some researchers outside the community engaged in counter memory also, since what was forgotten is just as important as what is remembered (Hua 2005, 192). The research and information published on Caribbean South Asians/ Indians in scholarly journals/ research publications can be viewed as a political cite, archive of Hindu cultural memory, to produce Hindu self-definitions/ understandings of the South Asian/ Indian diaspora that were mobilized and promoted through social conditioning (Hua 2005, 200). This left evidence and memory of the minority Muslim South Asian/ Indian Caribbean community as lost or forgotten, subjugated, selectively writte- out and silenced in scholarly research. Chickrie, Khanam, Samaroo and Farouk Khan's research filled some of the holes in Trinidad and Guyana's national South Asain/ Indian history/memory. Their research countered the existing "official" Hindu memory/ history by debunking myths to restore the past, reclaim, recover, remember, Muslim presence among the first ships of indentured labourers to the region and participation of Muslims in revolts/ rebellions against British colonialism in order to transform the national narrative in Trinidad and Guyana be more inclusive in the future (Hua 2005, 200, 204).

The national memory discourse and narrative in Trinidad and Guyana of the South Asian/ Indian population (identity/ culture/ memory) was produced within a diasporic "Hindu" context where Muslims are on the periphery of Indian identity with no sense of belonging , thus rendering the Indian diaspora and any research conducted on this community as being synonymous with

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Hindus (Bal and Sinha-Kerkhoff 2005, 201). Therefore the politicization of cultural memory marginalized Muslim identity in Trinidad and Guyana since it was juxtaposed to the majority Hindu identity in a dichotomous relationship. In India Indian "authenticity" is assessed by a hierarchy along the lines of religion with Hindus at the zenith, Sikhs and Jains are accepted as a part of the "Indian" religions fold, leaving Christians and Muslims at the bottom, with Muslims as the ultimate base. Discourse surrounding Muslims is "authenticity"-centric where Muslims are "Othered" based on the intersection of religion, viewed as being "inauthentic", "fake Indians" practicing an impure, polluted, diluted version of Indian culture and Islam is viewed as a religion that was "foreign" to South Asia/ India that colonized the subcontinent. Aisha Khan's research explains how Muslims in Trinidad are seen as the "diluted Indians" and Hindus are depicted as the "authentic Indians" since it is Hinduism that demarcates an "authentic Indian" (Khan 1998, 499-500). Sultana Afroz who specializes in the Muslim presence in Jamaica emphasized that the importance of Muslim indentured labours has been neglected due to the hegemonic majority status of Hindus in indentured servitude (Chickrie and Khanam 2009, 201). Bal and Sinha-Kerkhoff who specialized on Muslims in Suriname have pondered the question "is the exclusion of Muslims because religion (Hinduism) is at the core of defining the Indian Diaspora"? They concluded that, "studies on the Indian Diaspora are in fact studies on Hindus with Hinduism firmly rooted in the present day Caribbean countries (Chickrie and Khanam 2009, 201).

Since the Indian diaspora is "perceived" as being Hindu this "excludes Muslims of Indian origin by making them de-territorialized from India and re-territorialized to Pakistan" (Bal and Sinha-Kerkhoff 2005, 193). Although India "disowned its Muslim children", Muslim Indians in the Caribbean still feel rooted in their South Asian/Indian ancestry (Bal and Sinha-Kerkhoff 2005, 202-203). Partition complicated identity, forcing Muslims to prove their loyalty to India and the Hindu Indian diaspora since the partitioning of India and Pakistan was based on religion, forcing the diaspora to thus partition accordingly as well (Bal and Sinha-Kerkhoff 2005, 195). Instead of wanting their Hindustan (South Asia) to be divided Caribbean Muslims were disappointed and believed Muslims and Hindus should not be separated to form separate countries on the basis of religion (Bal and Sinha-Kerkhoff 2005, 202-203). Some scholars falsely believe Muslims of Indian origin should not be apart of the Indian diaspora since they do not view South Asia? India as their homeland and should be seen only as apart of a Muslim diaspora or umma (Muslim international community) (Bal and Sinha-Kerkhoff 2005, 193). Muslims view "Hindus as their brothers/sisters of one Mother" and Muslims view themselves as being just as Hindustani (South Asian/ Indian) as Hindus (Bal and Sinha-Kerkhoff 2005, 193, 196-197). Muslims South Asians/ Indians have the language Urdu to unite them, they orient themselves towards pre-partitioned India and they maintained their syncretic South Asian/Indian cultural Islam thus preserving a strong South Asian/ Indian connection to the subcontinent (Bal and Sinha-Kerkhoff 2005, 197). Muslims feel more connected to Hindus (and other South Asians) in comparison to Muslims of different cultural backgrounds due to a "shared sense of ethnic consciousness, a sense of distinctiveness, common history, the belief in a common fate apperception of the homeland" (Bal and Sinha-Kerkhoff 2005, 193).

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When South Asian/ Indian Muslims came to Trinidad and Guyana as indentured laborers in the 1800's they were determined to preserve their South Asian and Muslim culture despite horrific treatment at the hands of British proselytization methods during colonialism. "Justice Coleman, a colonial government secretary mentioned "the Coolies were locked up in the sick house until morning, flogged with a cat_o'-nine-tails while tied to the post of the gallery of the manager's house; I cannot tell how many licks; he gave them enough. I saw blood. When they were flogged, they rubbed salt pickle on their backs" (Khanam and Chickrie 2009, 208). This quote mentioned by Justice Coleman refers to how the Indo-Caribbean indentured labourers were beaten with a multi-tailed whip while tied to a post till they bled and salt was rubbed into their wounds (Khanam and Chickrie 2009, 208). This was one of the copious forms of torture South Asians/ Indians endured just to preserve the South Asian/ Indian culture and Islam they practice today" which testifies to how Muslims should be included in South Asian/ Indian research in Trinidad and Guyana. (Rahman 2018, 11). Hindus in Trinidad and Guyana know how it feels when their South Asian/ Indian "authenticity" to be questioned by mainland South Asians and although they do not appreciate this questioning of their authenticity, they do the same thing to Muslims. Muslim South Asians/ Indians should be "included in Indian diasporic studies and the national collective history/ memory of South Asian/ Indians in Trinidad and Guyana since their exclusion means denying these Muslims their history as well as rendering them '"homeless"" or not belonging as apart of the South Asina/ Indian diaspora (Bal and Sinha-Kerkhoff 2005, 193). Muslim South Asians in Trinidad and Guyana are in a constant struggle to preserve at the core of national memory what hegemonic Hindu-centric research wishes to write them out of.

Conclusion

During the First Annual Graduation Ceremony of the Haji Ruknuddeen Institute of Islamic Studies, Brinsley Samaroo stated that he "lamented the fact that little had been recorded on the history of Muslims from India" (Zainol Khan 2013, 12). This paper attempted to explore the reasoning why Muslims were not recorded in the South Asian/ Indian collective national history/ memory in Trinidad and Guyana. The memories of this community's identity were manipulated over time to depict a Hindu-centric image of the host society, which excluded the Muslim South Asian/ Indian community, leaving a Hindu imprint void of Islam in history, until a few scholars recently started focusing on this heavily understudied academic category as a form of counter-memory or protest, which this paper is meant to represent. The question then arose, "How does the Politicization of Cultural Memory Marginalize the South Asian/ Indian Muslim Diaspora in

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Trinidad and Guyana"? This paper addressed how the Muslim South Asian/ Indian identity is marginalized when juxtaposed to Hindus in a dichotomous relationship, by questioning their South Asian/ Indian "authenticity" based on a hierarchy thus rendering them homeless with no sense of belonging. Therefore any research on the Indian diaspora in the Caribbean would be a study on the Hindu diaspora. Discourse surrounding Muslim authenticity is based on the intersection of religion, where Islam/ Muslims are "othered", viewed as being "inauthentic", "fake Indians" practicing an impure, polluted, diluted version of Indian culture and Islam is viewed as a religion that was "foreign" to South Asia/ India that colonized the subcontinent. This paper explored how the politicization of cultural memory marginalized the South Asian/ Indian Muslim diaspora in Trinidad and Guyana by virtue of the various attempts to systematically erase acknowledgement of Islamic/ Muslim presence in the region leaving a solely Hindu print in the country's status quo South Asian/ Indian narrative and national memory discourse in Trinidad and Guyana. The various attempts executed to erase Muslim/ Islamic acknowledgement was by erasing Muslim presence among the first South Asian/Indians to the region on the first ships to Trinidad and Guyana as indentured labourers, erasing their participation in revolts against British colonization and erasing their presence in academic literature on South Asians/ Indians in the region, rendering them invisible. Muslim memory should not be marginalized in Trinidad and Guyana's status quo South Asian/ Indian narrative (national memory discourse) because Muslims have a legitimate claim to being South Asian/ Indian based on a strong cultural connection to the subcontinent. In order to protect Muslim South Asian/ Indian identity and culture, this community engaged in politicized counter-memory/ narratives and endured copious torture during British colonialism as a precaution to preserve their history. "The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting" (Legg 2005, 458). Muslim South Asians in Trinidad and Guyana are in a constant struggle to preserve at the core of national memory what powerful hegemonic Hindu-centric research wishes to write them out of and forget. "Dr. Laura Ann Stoler compares a marginalized community to the analogy of a watermark, where this aspect of history cannot be "scraped off nor removed without destroying the paper" (Stoler 2010, 8). This is the perfect analogy to understand the marginalized Muslim South Asian/ Indian community in Trinidad and Guyana, who cannot be scraped off nor removed from Caribbean memory or history since they are an integral part of the fabric of South Asian/ Indian culture and the community will not be whole without the colours and patters of Muslim contributions, even if they are not always given acknowledgement (Stoler 2010, 8)". (Rahman 2018, 15).

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