Elusive mother country: The literature of the Indian-Caribbean Windrush

Abstract

The recent commemorations in 2018 and 2023, of the 70th and 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks, have prompted a deeper engagement with the history of post-war migration from the Caribbean to the ‘motherland’. As public awareness of the economic contribution the Windrush Generation (1948–1971) made to Britain grows, there is also an increasing curiosity in the artistic output of this community and their descendants. However, when museums and cultural institutions choose to engage with the history of the Windrush Generation and its influence, such representations focus on Black Britain and a celebration of the African-Caribbean presence; little or no acknowledgment is given to the community of Indian-Caribbean heritage, who also formed part of the Windrush Generation. Frequently for example, art exhibitions, book lists and musical celebrations ignore the Indian-Caribbean presence with the UK’s Guardian newspaper recently publishing an article entitled ‘Windrush at 75: books that shaped the black British experience’ (author’s italics).In this article I seek to analyze the literary contribution made by writers of Indian-Caribbean heritage, who were part of the Windrush Generation. From Sam Selvon, the author of the classic Windrush novel The Lonely Londoners to lesser-known writers such as Lakshmi Persaud and Elly Niland, I argue that Indian-Caribbean writers have complicated the binaries of the current Windrush narrative and have perhaps been afforded less consideration as a result. My aim in this article is to offer a preliminary analysis of the literary odyssey of Indian-Caribbean writers during this period