INSIDE
13
On February 20th, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport held another edition of its much anticipated Republic of Guyana Lecture Series at the Umana Yana where literary enthusiasts turned out to hear the words of Guyanese intellectual, Professor Clem Seecharan.
Professor Seecharan joins other intellectuals who have contributed to the series of lectures including Professor Vibert Cambridge, Professor John Rickford, Professor Sir Hillary Beckles, Professor Emeritus, Dr. Alvin Thompson and Professor Verene Shepherd. Each speaker took on varying topics regarding Guyana’s history and development.
During the lecture, it was resoundingly clear that Professor Seecharran, Professor of Caribbean History and Head of the Caribbean Studies, London Metropolitan University, had a firm grasp on his presentation entitled “The El Dorado Complex in the Shaping of the Indo-Guyanese: A Revisionist Perspective.”
From on the onset Professor Seecharan noted that in the lecture he will be challenging received and accepted ideas about the Indian background and the context of Indian immigrant in this country and the nature of the relationship between African and Indians in Guyana.
“I will challenge the assumptions that all Indians were kidnapped or tricked into coming to British Guyana as Indentured Immigrants…I would look at some of the prejudices Indians have towards African people and blackness has a whole,” he said.
One of the mind grappling points brought out in the lecture was the assumption that “all these people were so stupid that they were tricked and that they were kidnapped is really a historical insult and a degradation of people of tremendous strength of character, men and women who has we know from the history of this country, have made a tremendous contribution to the advancement of this country and the region,” Professor Seecharran posited.
He explained that while there existed some amount of deception, the indentured labourers were told great stories about what they could achieve in Guyana but the reason why they came to Guyana had to do with their social and economic conditions experienced during that time in Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Western Bihar. To date those parts of India still remain impoverished.
In providing evidence to those views, Professor Seecharan shared readings from two studies, the first conducted by one Professor Brigdelall, from the Australian National University, who visited Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Western Bihar, and explored 7400 ship record of indenture labours who were taken to Fiji around 19th century. The other study was done by an anthropologist name Raymond Smith, who came and studied in Guyana in 1950.
Professor Seecharran indicated that the findings Smith had made about Indian Indentured labour in Guyana was almost exact in terms of statistic to the scientific study done by Professor Bridgelall about the background of Indenture Indians, their castes, religion, the region from which they came and the reasons why they left.
“These people were not just tricked, they were not just kidnapped…they were people already with a sharp eye looking for a chance,” Professor Seecharran reiterated.
Further, what emerged of the “true India” for those indentured labourers, closely resembled the story of the Ramhayya – the narrative of exile and return.
While examining some of the prejudices Indians have towards African people and blackness has a whole, Professor Seecharan noted that the caste system is North Indian was generally one where the upper class were light skinned and the lower class or untouchables had the darkest skin. Upon arrival in Guyana, which by then was already populated by Africans, the Indians brought their precepts of their caste system.
“We reach a point where we have to discuss these things, it is very important where we seek to build a nation, because we have a sovereignty state but we have not yet build a nation we are stall primarily define by our ethnicity. When you live in multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi tribal societies it is extremely important that we have on-going dialogue. It is also extremely important that the dominant group or groups are seen to be making overtures to those who see themselves as subordinate or suppressed. Because if you want people to live and share with you, if you want to create a nation, you must have this dialogue and sometimes you have to say things that are quite painful, even about you,” he said.
At the end of the discourse, the listening audience was given the opportunity to ask questions and share their views on the topic.
Professor Clem Seecharan presents revealing lecture
-at annual Republic of Guyana Lecture Series