Colonial Writing on Indentured East Indians in British Guiana, 1838-1917
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‘With Eyes of Wonder’: Colonial Writing on Indentured East Indians in British Guiana, 1838-1917 A thesis submitted by Maria del Pilar Kaladeen in requirement of the regulations for the examination of Doctor of Philosophy in English Literature, December 2012 Supervisor: Dr Ruth Livesey Department of English, Royal Holloway, University of London 1 Declaration of Authorship I Maria del Pilar Kaladeen hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is always clearly stated. Signed: ______________________ Date: ________________________ 2 Abstract This thesis is an analysis of colonial writing, as colonial discourse, on indentured East Indians in British Guiana between 1838-1917. Its themes are resistance, creolisation and cultural diversity. I will show that throughout indenture, colonial writing on East Indians in British Guiana formed as substantial a part of resistance to the system of indenture as did the actions of the indentured East Indians themselves. I will further demonstrate that textual creolisation occurred in the way in which colonists became influenced by the emerging culture of colonial Guyana. The primary sources for this thesis include Colonial Office records, Parliamentary Papers, works of literature and missionaries’ correspondence. I endeavour to provide a contrast to recent studies on indenture in British Guiana by looking at the combined role of Europeans and East Indians in the reformation and termination of the system. My work is a deliberate move away from historical studies of the Indian-Guyanese that isolate them from the colony’s other ethnic groups, attempting to place them in the historical context of all the ethnic groups who resisted colonisation in Guyana. Due to the relative novelty of Indian- Caribbean studies, the role in indenture of minority groups such as the South Indian ‘Madrasis’, Muslims and tribal North Indians or ‘Hill Coolies’ has been largely ignored. Where relevant, using historical evidence, this thesis will address the role of these groups in resisting indenture and colonialism. 3 Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................................. 6 Note on Nomenclature ..................................................................................................................... 7 Note On Historical Sources ............................................................................................................. 9 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 10 I. Thesis Outline ....................................................................................................................... 10 II. From Encomienda to Indenture: Contextualising the Arrival of East Indians in the Caribbean and Guiana. ............................................................................ 18 PART 1: 1838-1872 ......................................................................................................... 39 Introduction to Part 1 ................................................................................................ 39 Chapter 1: Appropriating the ‘Hill Coolies’: Pro and Anti Indenture Rhetoric, 1838-1848 .................................................................................................. 43 I. Governmental Interventions .............................................................................................. 45 II. The Anti-Slavery Society ................................................................................................. 52 III. A Planter’s View: The Journal of ‘Barton Premium’ ............................................ 58 Chapter 2: Protecting the Emigrants: Voyage and Return, 1838-1858 .... 66 I. The Role of the Protector of Emigrants ........................................................................ 67 II. The Early Role of Doctors in Indenture ...................................................................... 75 Chapter 3: Protecting the Immigrants: Judicial Rebellion in British Guiana, 1863-1872 ..................................................................................................... 88 PART 2: 1870-1902 ..................................................................................................... 114 Introduction to Part 2 ............................................................................................. 114 Chapter 4: Edward Jenkins: The Creolisation of a Victorian Imperialist ........................................................................................................................................ 118 Chapter 5: H.V.P. Bronkhurst: Wesleyan Missionary to the East Indians of British Guiana, 1860-1895 ................................................................................... 142 Chapter 6: ‘With Eyes of Wonder’: The Rise and Fall of the Romanticisation of the Creole East Indian, 1890-1902 .............................. 161 I. Celebrating the East Indian Presence: The ‘Coolie’ Tadjah, The Comins Report and Depictions of the East Indian Woman ..................................................... 162 II. Bechu and the Commencement of the Process of Writing Back, 1894-1902 ...................................................................................................................................................... 173 4 PART 3: 1900-1917 ...................................................................................................... 181 Introduction to Part 3 ............................................................................................. 181 Chapter 7: Fluid Identities Under Empire, 1900-1909 ............................... 188 I. The Reverend H.J. Shirley: Congregationalist Radical ........................................ 188 II. Alexander Alexander: Planter turned Salvationist ................................................ 203 III. Writing Back: Part I, 1900-1909 ............................................................................... 211 Chapter 8: Writing a Proto-Nation: A.R.F. Webber’s Those That be in Bondage and the Letters of the East Indian Community, 1910-1917 ..... 218 I. The Alignment of the Overseer and the ‘Coolie’: A.R.F. Webber’s Those That be in Bondage ......................................................................................................................... 219 II. Writing Back: Part II, 1910-1917 ............................................................................ 230 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 239 Bibliography .................................................................................................................................... 245 5 Acknowledgments I am grateful to Elleke Boehmer for the enthusiasm with which she supported this project in its earliest stages. I have benefitted enormously from the encouragement of my supervisor Ruth Livesey and the belief she has shown in me. Many thanks to Gloria Cummings and Tota Mangar who helped me to find my way around resources at the University of Guyana. Steven Spencer from the Salvation Army’s International Heritage Centre kindly sent me vital information at two crucial junctures in my work. I would also like to thank Professor John McLaren of the University of Victoria in Vancouver who graciously sent me copies of his unpublished work on Chief Justice Joseph Beaumont. I am nothing without the love and support of my parents Maria del Pilar Jorgal Romero and Surujpaul Kaladeen and my husband David Wallis; this trinity of patience and understanding has continually forgiven the single-minded way I have approached life over the last few years. Many years ago my dad encouraged me to write a thesis on something ‘proper, like Shakespeare’. I hope that on reflection he feels that the years I have devoted to his history were not misspent. If there is any merit in the following pages, it is dedicated in loving memory to Paul Ramon Kaladeen (1965-2008) and Gavin Kwabena Wallis (1978-2011). 6 Note on Nomenclature Creolisation: Throughout this thesis I will refer to the concept of creolisation. My use of this term denotes a documented societal process that occurred in Guyana and other parts of the Caribbean and describes a culture formed as the result of sustained contact between different ethnic groups.1 I would like to emphasise that I use this term to describe a strand of Guyanese culture and do not seek to advance creolisation as an all-encompassing experience that affected the entire population temporally and spatially. Creole/creole: The word ‘creole’ as used in this thesis is employed to describe aspects of the culture and society of Guyana. Where I have spelt this word with a capital letter, as in Chapter 8, I refer specifically to the language of Guyanese Creole. Guiana/British Guiana/Guyana: Throughout this thesis these terms will be used to refer to the colony before, during and after British colonisation respectively. I acknowledge that the British and Dutch treated the counties of Demerara, Berbice and Essequibo as separate colonies, however the shared colonial history of the counties, as well as their ultimate