East Indians in a West Indian Town

San Fernando, Trinidad, 1930-70

Colin G Clarke

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2023
• ISBN:
  9781000881554
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

First published in 1986, East Indians in a West Indian Town explores the complex geographical, sociological and anthropological dimensions of Trinidad society before and after its political independence, by employing three sets of materials – census data, questionnaires and participant-observation records. Cartographic, humanistic and statistical approaches are combined in a historical perspective to deal with the significance of race, cultural distinctions and class in San Fernando. A major concern of the book is to examine the social complexity that lies behind geographical patterns, and to compare aggregate data with group behaviour. This book will be of interest to students of geography, sociology and anthropology.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Title Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Preface and acknowledgements
• Table of Contents
• List of tables
• List of plates
• 1 Introduction
• 2 East Indians in Trinidad: historical and theoretical perspectives
• 3 San Fernando: from slavery to independence
• 4 San Fernando: social and spatial structure in the late colonial period
• 5 Segmentation, stratification, race and caste
• 6 Religions, cults and festivals
• 7 Household, kinship and marriage
• 8 Intersegmental association and political affiliation
• 9 Conclusion: pluralism in San Fernando and beyond
• Appendix A Small-area census data and problems in their analysis
• Appendix B The sample survey
• Appendix C Tables expressing the marital and mating history of household heads and their dependents and showing dependents’ relationships to heads
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Index