Writing Ourselves into Time: Stories of Indo-Trinidadian Women

Abstract

ABSTRACT Three generations of Indo-Trinidadian women are the major subjects in the stories that emerge as the researcher/writer situates herself as an Indo-Caribbean Canadian. A traditionally patriarchal culture has previously rendered women as minor characters within the literature of the region. The writer gains new perspective after leaving a home country that has been characterised by colonisation. This work explores threads of memory in retrieving stories that are at risk of disappearing over time. Customs that characterised life for earlier generations of Indo-Trinidadian women show up as interesting details, giving insight into the resilience of people who had limited circumstances in rural Trinidad. As the generations progress, and as there is more urban exposure, identity is complicated by the dominant Trinidadian Creole culture. The stories offer glimpses into lives where traditional Indian culture morphs into a unique Indo-Trinidadian one. The three women embrace assimilation into a larger Trinidadian culture, but in varying degrees. For the researcher, learning to write about Indo-Trinidadian women’s experiences is as important as the stories that are written. Through interviews, questioning, authoethnography, memory work, and storytelling, events are reconstructed from snippets of inherited fragments of experiences.