7 0 -1 4 ,0 8 6 RAUF, Mohammad A bdur, 1 9 2 9 - CRABW00D CREEK: A STUDY OF CULTURAL CONTIN­ UITY AND ETHNIC IDENTITY ON DIFFERENT GENER­ ATIONAL LEVELS AMONG EAST INDIANS IN GUYANA. The Ohio State University,Ph.D., 1969 Anthropology University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED CRABWOOD CREEK A Study of Cultural Continuity and Ethnic Identity on Different Generational Levels Among East Indians in Guyana DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Mohammad Abdur Rauf, B.A. (Hons) M.A. 1969 The Ohio State University Approved by Adviser Department of Anthro­ pology MAP GUYANA - N.t.Sectlon — O SScale 10 ISof MilesZS 30 35 40 45 REFERENCE ' Alluvial Coastal Areas Sugar Estates Bauxite Mines s e t A irports ^pxAnna Regina ^Queenstown ^ Railways g J S u d d ie Z$Tiger Island R o ad s Spring Garden^! J-^Wakenaam Island Island .. _ ^ ^ oetSwn *AbaryR, 'J l * Mourant Mackenxi Three Friends W 9 Kwakw«ni Figure 3L (Adopted from Smith, R. T. 1962) Figure 2: Plan of Corentye District Showing the Village of Crabwood Creek in relation to its adjoining communities of Skeldon, villages 79 and 78 and Springland. iii sir #HMU Figure 3: Plan View of Crabwood Creek v \ > .-v~; ■■~ir v MCE FIELDS T } i 1 I0) ! S 1 * M C E FIELD S m 4 ' 1 , * r $ i i * i 1! I '1 F?/C£ IS' Me l d s IP t ; f.J i t • ■ i I ' V I CD iiiv-i.1 J - f mice Fields s : * * • O O I 1* ' .M'r - - o m ic e f/e l d s -• <ss»rt ?/ r.. —■•*'' m m ic e f i e l d s s ____ o ;r ”a a r gaao 0 eds '~>:. 1 2 * r | y.’pr^' v ' 1 (N4WTM1 m e mice fields • Mm w e r r i c e f i e l d s ACKNOWLEDGMENT I wish to acknowledge with gratitude my indebtedness to many people who made this study possible. First of all, I would like to express my deep and enduring per­ sonal debt to Professor Leo A. Estel who introduced me to the subject of Anthropology. Ever since I entered into the Department of Anthro­ pology, he has been generous with his ideas, time and advice. For the profound influence on the development of my ideas and knowledge in Anthropology, I owe a great intellectual debt to Professor Erika Bourguig- non. To acknowledge her help in this study is only an inadequate way of expressing my deep appreciation for her learning and scholarship. A special measure of appreciation must be expressed to Professor Edwin S. Hall Jr. who spent many of his precious hours in helping me improve this manuscript in many w ays. While preparing this manuscript I benefitted greatly from dis­ cussions with my friend and colleague Professor Shared Malalu, Depart­ ment of Sociology, Sacramento State College. I owe a personal debt to him for providing me insights into many areas of this study. A deep measure of gratitude is expressed to Mrs. Donna Hol- stead, one of my former students in Sacramento State College who helped me in preparing this manuscript in numerous w ays. I don't know how to give her my thanks. vii A word of appreciation is necessary to the Department of Anthropology, Sacramento State College that provided me every possible administrative and clerical help to bring this dissertation in the present form. It is impossible to articulate my expression in any way that can truly convey my feelings of appreciation and debt to hundreds of people of the village of Crabwood Creek who made many concessions so that I might live with them as a member of their community. I wish it were possible for me to name all of them here. But for their patience, love and hospitality the completion of this study would have never been possible. Last but not least, I must express my appreciation to my wife Sayeeda, my daughter Seema and my son Shariq. Their understanding and enthusiasm made the tedious process of writing a dissertation not only successful but also worthwhile. viii PREFACE The present study is based on field work conducted by me among a group of East Indians in Guyana during the year 1965 (June through October). The objective of the study is specified and elabor­ ated in Chapter One. The study of a culture, as a whole, involves application of a wide variety of techniques and methods that have been developed by anthropologists over time. Since the conceptual and logical orientations toward the study of culture have progressed with the growth of the discipline it is natural that the need for adequate methods of investigation has also increased in proportion to the refine­ ment of anthropological theory. As such more sophisticated techniques and adequate methods for the collection and analysis of data have been developed. This process is by no means complete. Anthropological techniques and methods have grown as a result of experiences that anthropologists have gained in their field work among the isolated tribes, peasant societies and, of late, among the urban dwellers living in slums and ghettoes of large industrial towns. Every field work is a unique experience and each human group possessed of different cultural con­ tents and separate arrangement of its social relations presents new field situations to the anthropologist who seeks in his search to capture the wholeness of the culture. The ways in which a new field situation is handled and the experiences that are gained in the collection of the ethnographic data, when recorded, tend to enhance the possibilities ix of improvement in research techniques and methodology of the discip­ line. The shared field work experiences today are, therefore, looked upon as one of the prominent sources of our methodology. Methodology When I went to Guyana to do my field work among the East Indian group I found myself luckily placed in a favorable environment. An overwhelming majority of the East Indians of Guyana live in the rural areas where the social life is well integrated and the cost of living is low. It followed naturally that the ideal place for my research was to be a small village where the local cultural patterns could be easily observed. Since the study was financed by my own resources the ob­ vious limitations of time and money did not prove to be under these cir­ cumstances a major obstacle. To establish first contacts with the community is a matter of strategic importance in conducting field work. The success of the field work largely depends on the sophistication of the community and the advance knowledge of the investigator. However, a slight negligence on the part of the investigator at this stage is likely to ruin his whole research project. My visit to Guyana followed almost immediately after the general elections in the country (December 1964). The after-effects of the election were noticeable in the form of tension in different polit­ ical factions and racial hostility between the East Indians and the Guyanese of African origin. I had to take extreme care and precaution to see that the neutrality of my research would not be affected by the political and racial conflicts raging in the country. A young Pakistani gentleman who is a recent immigrant to Guyana and has married an educated East Indian girl of Guyanese origin provided great assistance to me in grasping a fairly objective picture of the local conditions. During the course of long friendly conversations with him, mostly done in our own language (Hindustani) I realized that being a recent immi­ grant he had not yet lost an outsider's view of the local East Indian culture and of the general social and political condition prevailing in the country. His help was also invaluable in establishing contact with leaders of all the ethnic communities and of different shades of public opinion. During these contacts I explained to each person the specific purpose of my research and sought for their help and cooperation. It was noted that frequently people would want to introduce local political issues as topics of conversation. On each occasion I held back my views by making a frank statement that such issu es are not relevant to my focus of study. I later realized that this frankness eventually turned out to be an effective approach in establishing my credentials with all persons that I came in contact with during my field work. In the course of preliminary inquiries I was informed, as stated earlier, that most of the East Indians live in rural areas and also that the eastern part of the country (Berbice County) has generally a major concentration of the East Indian population. I planned an immediate visit of the area for my own assessm ent, keeping in mind the selection of a specific research site if the area was found as suitable as it was reported. After making a preliminary survey of the research possibilities and other facilities available in the area I discovered that the village of Crabwood Creek was indeed ideally suitable for my study. On return xi to Georgetown I was pleased with my selection when during the course of a conversation Dr. Chedi B. Jagan, a prestigeous and one of the most well informed leaders of the country/ also suggested the same village for the study of the East Indian community.