Nidān is an international journal which publishes contributions in the field of Hinduism and re... more Nidān is an international journal which publishes contributions in the field of Hinduism and related Indian religions Articles published in Nidān have abstracts reflected in the Index to South African Periodicals Nidān is now distributed only through electronic media as a freely accessed journal from its main website: [http://nidan.ukzn.ac.za] Articles published in Nidān are also available on Sabinet [http://www.journals.co.za/ej/ejour_nidan.html] This periodical is indexed in the ATLA Religion Database® (ATLA RDB®), Articles should relate to the study of any aspect of Hinduism or related Indian religions. As such, the study of Hinduism is broadly conceived to include, not merely the traditionally recognized areas within the discipline, but includes contributions from scholars in other fields who seek to bring their particular worldviews and theories into dialogue with Hindu studies. Articles that explore issues of history, ecology, economics, politics, sociology, culture,...
Trinidad and Tobago is home to 240,100 Hindus who are descendants of immigrants who had migrated ... more Trinidad and Tobago is home to 240,100 Hindus who are descendants of immigrants who had migrated as labourers from India during the 19th and early 20th century. They keep Hinduism alive in the Afro-Christian-dominated region mainly by participating in religious activities such Divali, Phagwa/Holi, Shivraatri and Ramleela/Ramlila. As a form of free open-air theatre, Ramlila is staged only in Trinidad (and Tobago), although there are thousands of Hindus living in neighbouring Guyana and Suriname. Accordingly, Ramlila in Trinidad has become the oldest surviving form of outdoor folk theatre in the Caribbean. It also holds the unrivalled record of being the only play to be performed at dozens of venues for over 100 consecutive years in the region, and it is the only drama of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. This paper focuses on the emergence and evolution of Ramlila phenomenon as a cultural art form and socio-religious event and its dramatization as an open-air village theatre in the...
Unlike any other Caribbean country, Belize experienced three waves of East Indian/ South Asian mi... more Unlike any other Caribbean country, Belize experienced three waves of East Indian/ South Asian migration, commencing in 1858. Belize also became unique because these early immigrant labourers worked in the sugarcane, as well as lumber and banana industries. Belize is also exceptional in that it was the only country in the Caribbean where Indians worked under the employment of American ex-confederates. With the passage of time, the mainly-Hindu immigrants all converted to Christianity, resulting in the absence of temples and lack of festivals in the country today. The only remnants of Indian culture are the special preparation of food with turmeric [curry] and the observance of Hosay/Muharram [Who-se-me-say]. Indians now comprise about four percent (7,000 persons) of the multi-ethnic population of Belize. They now face the imminent danger of disappearance as an ethnic group. Based on library/internet research and field visits, this cursory paper seeks to provide a brief overview of their history and contemporary situation.
The steelband has been hailed by some enthusiasts as the greatest musical invention of the twenti... more The steelband has been hailed by some enthusiasts as the greatest musical invention of the twentieth century. Its invention could not have been more than about seventy years old, and yet there is widespread confusion about its history. Much has been said and written, but few researchers have taken the approach of tracing the steelband’s birth and development along the lines of the ethnic and cultural pluralism that is unique to Trinidad. It is only through this approach that a viable attempt could be made to explain the existence of - what writers keep referring to - “an indigenous art form.” To do this would be to stress the need for a kind of awareness of the diverse cultures of Trinidad, and to point out new areas of research in Caribbean scholarship.
Anthropologists are trained to get an insider's perspective of "other cultures." T... more Anthropologists are trained to get an insider's perspective of "other cultures." This paper discusses the challenges of a native anthropologist of South Asian origin to study his own culture in a multi-ethnic society in the Caribbean. Equally challenging too, was the task of this Hindu/ ...
– The real-life narratives of six persons of Indian origin from the Caribbean, who were successfu... more – The real-life narratives of six persons of Indian origin from the Caribbean, who were successful in finding their distant relatives in ancestral India, are documented, analysed and contextualised. These five men and one woman went to India separately and in different years). They embarked on a journey to the other side of the world in search of their kin whom they were fortunate to meet. Ramesh Ramcharan, Ramnarace Dwarika, Dev Ramoutar, Veda Marimuthu, Shamshu Deen and Vishnu Bisram shared their sentimental experiences through spontaneous words and selected photographs. In their narratives, they paint a moving picture, filled with amazing discoveries and extraordinary kindness. These family-seekers witnessed the poverty of their long-lost relatives who reside in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, especially in Allahabad, Mirzapur and Zahurabad. The truth which they found is that life has not changed much in the century and a half since their descendants departed for the Caribbean, and the sixty years since the British left India. Their collective stories cannot be found in any book or on the internet and, therefore, comprise a new aspect of the historiography of indentureship.
Trinidad and Tobago ranks high in the world in the incidence of Hepatitis C, of which one of the ... more Trinidad and Tobago ranks high in the world in the incidence of Hepatitis C, of which one of the symptoms is jaundice. A preliminary study on the treatment of neonatal and adult jaundice by traditional healers was conducted in September 2002. The objectives of the research were (1) to compare and contrast the beliefs and practices of healers with clinicians, (2) to determine the clinical validity of the healers' therapeutic claims, (3) and to present information on the type of patients who seek treatment from these healers. Interviews were conducted with 38 patients at a healer's home/clinic about their experience with jaundice. Ethnographic studies were done on eight healers, one of whom was selected for participant observation. Many overlapping and linked explanations were found that were consistent with clinical research findings. The research found, however, that the treatment of jaundice by healers were more symbolic than physiological in its clinical efficacy.
A literary essay based on readings and interviews with Vidia Naipaul " s childhood friends, Roy S... more A literary essay based on readings and interviews with Vidia Naipaul " s childhood friends, Roy Sudan, Sieu Supersad, and Ramlal Bajnath; his classmate Jesse Noel; his uncle Simbhoonath Capildeo; and his mother Draupati Naipaul. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The world is swamped by a tidal wave of computer-assisted technologies in the teaching of foreign... more The world is swamped by a tidal wave of computer-assisted technologies in the teaching of foreign languages. Yet the simple traditional transistor radio remains accessible to all in every location as a medium of instruction when compared to videos, laserdiscs, hypertext cards, CDs, CD-ROMs and the Internet. Despite being one-way and passive, radio technology plays a major role as a limited language laboratory which uses the sole audio-lingual method of instruction to introduce vocabulary and pronunciation. This paper seeks to assess radio as a tool for the teaching of the Hindi language in Trinidad and Tobago. The establishment of five radio stations dedicated mainly to Hindi/Indian music has given rise to programs promulgating Hindi. The paper discusses the process of language attrition in Trinidad, the advent of the five radio stations, the need to learn Hindi, the potential of radio for language instruction, and the methods used to teach the language in this medium.
Nidān is an international journal which publishes contributions in the field of Hinduism and re... more Nidān is an international journal which publishes contributions in the field of Hinduism and related Indian religions Articles published in Nidān have abstracts reflected in the Index to South African Periodicals Nidān is now distributed only through electronic media as a freely accessed journal from its main website: [http://nidan.ukzn.ac.za] Articles published in Nidān are also available on Sabinet [http://www.journals.co.za/ej/ejour_nidan.html] This periodical is indexed in the ATLA Religion Database® (ATLA RDB®), Articles should relate to the study of any aspect of Hinduism or related Indian religions. As such, the study of Hinduism is broadly conceived to include, not merely the traditionally recognized areas within the discipline, but includes contributions from scholars in other fields who seek to bring their particular worldviews and theories into dialogue with Hindu studies. Articles that explore issues of history, ecology, economics, politics, sociology, culture,...
Trinidad and Tobago is home to 240,100 Hindus who are descendants of immigrants who had migrated ... more Trinidad and Tobago is home to 240,100 Hindus who are descendants of immigrants who had migrated as labourers from India during the 19th and early 20th century. They keep Hinduism alive in the Afro-Christian-dominated region mainly by participating in religious activities such Divali, Phagwa/Holi, Shivraatri and Ramleela/Ramlila. As a form of free open-air theatre, Ramlila is staged only in Trinidad (and Tobago), although there are thousands of Hindus living in neighbouring Guyana and Suriname. Accordingly, Ramlila in Trinidad has become the oldest surviving form of outdoor folk theatre in the Caribbean. It also holds the unrivalled record of being the only play to be performed at dozens of venues for over 100 consecutive years in the region, and it is the only drama of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. This paper focuses on the emergence and evolution of Ramlila phenomenon as a cultural art form and socio-religious event and its dramatization as an open-air village theatre in the...
Unlike any other Caribbean country, Belize experienced three waves of East Indian/ South Asian mi... more Unlike any other Caribbean country, Belize experienced three waves of East Indian/ South Asian migration, commencing in 1858. Belize also became unique because these early immigrant labourers worked in the sugarcane, as well as lumber and banana industries. Belize is also exceptional in that it was the only country in the Caribbean where Indians worked under the employment of American ex-confederates. With the passage of time, the mainly-Hindu immigrants all converted to Christianity, resulting in the absence of temples and lack of festivals in the country today. The only remnants of Indian culture are the special preparation of food with turmeric [curry] and the observance of Hosay/Muharram [Who-se-me-say]. Indians now comprise about four percent (7,000 persons) of the multi-ethnic population of Belize. They now face the imminent danger of disappearance as an ethnic group. Based on library/internet research and field visits, this cursory paper seeks to provide a brief overview of their history and contemporary situation.
The steelband has been hailed by some enthusiasts as the greatest musical invention of the twenti... more The steelband has been hailed by some enthusiasts as the greatest musical invention of the twentieth century. Its invention could not have been more than about seventy years old, and yet there is widespread confusion about its history. Much has been said and written, but few researchers have taken the approach of tracing the steelband’s birth and development along the lines of the ethnic and cultural pluralism that is unique to Trinidad. It is only through this approach that a viable attempt could be made to explain the existence of - what writers keep referring to - “an indigenous art form.” To do this would be to stress the need for a kind of awareness of the diverse cultures of Trinidad, and to point out new areas of research in Caribbean scholarship.
Anthropologists are trained to get an insider's perspective of "other cultures." T... more Anthropologists are trained to get an insider's perspective of "other cultures." This paper discusses the challenges of a native anthropologist of South Asian origin to study his own culture in a multi-ethnic society in the Caribbean. Equally challenging too, was the task of this Hindu/ ...
– The real-life narratives of six persons of Indian origin from the Caribbean, who were successfu... more – The real-life narratives of six persons of Indian origin from the Caribbean, who were successful in finding their distant relatives in ancestral India, are documented, analysed and contextualised. These five men and one woman went to India separately and in different years). They embarked on a journey to the other side of the world in search of their kin whom they were fortunate to meet. Ramesh Ramcharan, Ramnarace Dwarika, Dev Ramoutar, Veda Marimuthu, Shamshu Deen and Vishnu Bisram shared their sentimental experiences through spontaneous words and selected photographs. In their narratives, they paint a moving picture, filled with amazing discoveries and extraordinary kindness. These family-seekers witnessed the poverty of their long-lost relatives who reside in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, especially in Allahabad, Mirzapur and Zahurabad. The truth which they found is that life has not changed much in the century and a half since their descendants departed for the Caribbean, and the sixty years since the British left India. Their collective stories cannot be found in any book or on the internet and, therefore, comprise a new aspect of the historiography of indentureship.
Trinidad and Tobago ranks high in the world in the incidence of Hepatitis C, of which one of the ... more Trinidad and Tobago ranks high in the world in the incidence of Hepatitis C, of which one of the symptoms is jaundice. A preliminary study on the treatment of neonatal and adult jaundice by traditional healers was conducted in September 2002. The objectives of the research were (1) to compare and contrast the beliefs and practices of healers with clinicians, (2) to determine the clinical validity of the healers' therapeutic claims, (3) and to present information on the type of patients who seek treatment from these healers. Interviews were conducted with 38 patients at a healer's home/clinic about their experience with jaundice. Ethnographic studies were done on eight healers, one of whom was selected for participant observation. Many overlapping and linked explanations were found that were consistent with clinical research findings. The research found, however, that the treatment of jaundice by healers were more symbolic than physiological in its clinical efficacy.
A literary essay based on readings and interviews with Vidia Naipaul " s childhood friends, Roy S... more A literary essay based on readings and interviews with Vidia Naipaul " s childhood friends, Roy Sudan, Sieu Supersad, and Ramlal Bajnath; his classmate Jesse Noel; his uncle Simbhoonath Capildeo; and his mother Draupati Naipaul. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The world is swamped by a tidal wave of computer-assisted technologies in the teaching of foreign... more The world is swamped by a tidal wave of computer-assisted technologies in the teaching of foreign languages. Yet the simple traditional transistor radio remains accessible to all in every location as a medium of instruction when compared to videos, laserdiscs, hypertext cards, CDs, CD-ROMs and the Internet. Despite being one-way and passive, radio technology plays a major role as a limited language laboratory which uses the sole audio-lingual method of instruction to introduce vocabulary and pronunciation. This paper seeks to assess radio as a tool for the teaching of the Hindi language in Trinidad and Tobago. The establishment of five radio stations dedicated mainly to Hindi/Indian music has given rise to programs promulgating Hindi. The paper discusses the process of language attrition in Trinidad, the advent of the five radio stations, the need to learn Hindi, the potential of radio for language instruction, and the methods used to teach the language in this medium.
Much research has been done on masculinity and the marginalisation of males in the Caribbean. How... more Much research has been done on masculinity and the marginalisation of males in the Caribbean. However, almost all of these studies have been on Black males and none of them on males in advertisements. This is the first empirical study to be done on Indian men in the media.
This paper statistically examined the frequency of Indian men in advertisements in two daily “national” newspapers in Trinidad and Tobago. The methodology used in this study was content analysis that coded the frequency of images of men of all ethnicities in 116 colour advertisements in 60 editions of the Newsday and Guardian over a 30-day duration. The findings revealed that Indian men were marginalised/underrepresented in advertisements in comparison to African men (61:11) in the print media in a country in which Indian men outnumber African men (236, 823 or 36% and 228, 068 or 34% respectively).
This study is framed within the Agenda Setting Theory formally developed in 1968 by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw. The agenda of these advertisers is to create a perception that Indian males are unimportant, marginalised, inferior and invisible.
People of East Indian descent (Indians) in the Caribbean number about one and a half million in t... more People of East Indian descent (Indians) in the Caribbean number about one and a half million in the English-speaking Caribbean. They constitute about half of the population in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Suriname, and form the largest minority group in Jamaica, St Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenada.
Using content analysis and Paulo Freire’s theoretical framework, this paper examines the extent they, and their indentured forebears, have been excluded in the Caribbean Examinations Council’s (CXC) CSEC and CAPE History and Literature syllabi.
In its mandate to pursue socially-just educational practices, The United Nations (UNESCO), the World Forum in Dakar, and the World Conference on Education for All in Thailand have recommended that minority ethnic groups should not be disadvantaged in receiving an education as well as in being excluded in the content of the curriculum.
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Papers by DR. KUMAR MAHABIR
This paper statistically examined the frequency of Indian men in advertisements in two daily “national” newspapers in Trinidad and Tobago. The methodology used in this study was content analysis that coded the frequency of images of men of all ethnicities in 116 colour advertisements in 60 editions of the Newsday and Guardian over a 30-day duration. The findings revealed that Indian men were marginalised/underrepresented in advertisements in comparison to African men (61:11) in the print media in a country in which Indian men outnumber African men (236, 823 or 36% and 228, 068 or 34% respectively).
This study is framed within the Agenda Setting Theory formally developed in 1968 by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw. The agenda of these advertisers is to create a perception that Indian males are unimportant, marginalised, inferior and invisible.
Vincent and Grenada.
Using content analysis and Paulo Freire’s theoretical framework, this paper examines the extent they, and their indentured forebears, have been excluded in the Caribbean Examinations Council’s (CXC) CSEC and CAPE History and Literature syllabi.
In its mandate to pursue socially-just educational practices, The United Nations (UNESCO), the World Forum in Dakar, and the World Conference on Education for All in Thailand have recommended that minority ethnic groups should not be disadvantaged in receiving an education as well as in being excluded in the content of the curriculum.