Dougla people (plural Douglas) are Caribbean people who are of mixed African and Indian descent. The word Dougla (also Dugla or Dogla) is used throughout the Dutch and English-speaking Caribbean. Afro-Indo people may also be another term used to describe them.
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Dougla people|
Caribbean (notably in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica, Guadeloupe, and Martinique)
Diaspora in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the Netherlands |
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English, French, Dutch, English creoles, Sranan Tongo, Antillean French Creole, Caribbean Hindustani |
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Predominantly: Minority: |
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Afro-Caribbeans, Indo-Caribbeans |
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The word Dougla originated from dogala (दोगला), which is a Caribbean Hindustani word that literally means "two-necks" and may mean "many", "much" or "a mix".[1] Its etymological roots are cognate with the Hindi "do" meaning "two" and "gala", which means "throat". Within the West Indies context, the word is used only for one type of mixed race people: Afro-Indians.[2]
The 2012 Guyana census identified 29.25% of the population as Afro-Guyanese, 39.83% as Indo-Guyanese, and 19.88% as "mixed," recognized as mostly representing the offspring of the former two groups.[3]
In the French West Indies (Guadeloupe, Martinique), the few Afro-Indian people used to be referred to as Batazendyen or Chapé-Kouli, while in Haiti they were called Marabou.
There are sporadic records of Indo-Euro interracial relationships, both consensual and nonconsensual, before any ethnic mixing of the African and Indian variety.[4]
Other Indo-based types of mixed heritage (Indo-Chinese (Chindians), Indo-Latino/Hispanic (Tegli), Indo-English (Anglo-Indians), Indo-Portuguese (Luso-Indians), Indo-Irish (Irish Indians), Indo-Scottish (Scottish-Indians), Indo-Dutch, Indo-Arabs and Indo-Amerindian) tended to identify as one of the older, unmixed ethnic strains on the island: Afro, Indo, Amerindian or Euro or passing as one of them.[5]
In 1961, the calypsonian musician Mighty Dougla (born Cletus Ali) described the predicament of Douglas:[6]
If they sending Indians to India,
And Africans back to Africa,
Well, somebody please just tell me,
Where they sending poor me,
I am neither one nor the other,
Six of one, half dozen of the other,
So if they sending all these people back home for true,
They got to split me in two
— Split Me in Two
- Cletus Ali, Trinidadian musician, better known as Mighty Dougla
- Tatyana Ali, Indo-Trinidadian/Afro-Panamanian American actress
- Esther Anderson, actress (United Kingdom; born in Jamaica)[7]
- Johnson Beharry, Grenadian British soldier in the British Army[8]
- Melissa Bell, Jamaican-British singer and mother of Alexandra Burke
- Katharine Birbalsingh, teacher and education reformer
- Foxy Brown, rapper (United States; Trinidadian and Tobagonian background)[9]
- Alexandra Burke, British-Jamaican singer and daughter of Melissa Bell
- Super Cat, Jamaican deejay[10]
- Joseph Charles (born Serjad Makmadeen), founder of the Solo Beverage Company[11]
- Sabrina Colie, actress (United States; born in Jamaica)[citation needed]
- Mervyn Dymally, Trinidadian-American politician[12]
- Special Ed, rapper (United States; Jamaican background)
- Melanie Fiona, Canadian singer
- Marlene Malahoo Forte, politician (Jamaica)[13]
- Amy Ashwood Garvey, activist (Jamaica)[14][15]
- Masaba Gupta, actress and fashion designer (Antiguan and Indian)
- Lisa Hanna, Miss World 1993, MP for Saint Ann South Eastern[16]
- Kamala Harris, Vice-President of the United States (Jamaican and Indian)
- Maya Harris, lawyer and writer (Jamaican and Indian)
- Lester Holt, U.S. news anchor and journalist[17][18]
- Kenny J, calypsonian[19]
- Diana King, singer (United States; born in Jamaica)[20]
- Jeffery Kissoon, actor
- Vashtie Kola, music-video director
- Sonnet L'Abbé, Guyanese Canadian poet
- Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj, playwright
- Sir Trevor McDonald, Trinidadian British news anchor and journalist
- Nicki Minaj, singer, rapper (United States; born in Trinidad and Tobago)
- Nick Sagar, British actor and model
- Sean Sagar, British actor and model
- Nicole Narain, model and actress
- Rajee Narinesingh, LGBT activist (United States; Trinidadian and Tobagonian background)[21]
- Furdjel Narsingh, footballer (Netherlands; Surinamese background)
- Luciano Narsingh, footballer (Netherlands; Surinamese background)
- Roxanne Persaud, politician (United States; born in Guyana)[22][23][24]
- Thara Prashad, American singer and model[25][26]
- Mary Rambaran-Olm, literary scholar specializing in early medieval England from the fifth to eleventh centuries[27]
- Gema Ramkeesoon, social worker and women's-rights activist (Trinidad and Tobago)[28]
- Andre Rampersad, Trinidadian footballer
- Kenneth Salick, chutney soca singer[29]
- Krishmar Santokie, cricketer
- Edward Seaga, banker, businessman, politician and former
- Abrahim Simmonds, youth advocate (Jamaica)
- Toni-Ann Singh, Miss World 2019 (Jamaica)
- XXXTentacion, rapper[30]
- Justine Skye, entertainer (Jamaica)
- Joyce Vincent, British woman whose death went unnoticed for over two years (Grenadian of black and Indian ancestry)
Winer, Lise (2009). Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad & Tobago. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 311. ISBN 978-0-7735-3406-3. Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) The Rough Guide to Reggae, Rough Guides, ISBN 1-84353-329-4, p. 286 Comparative studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Vols 17–8, Duke University Press, 1997, p. 124.
- Barratt, Sue A, and Aleah N. Ranjitsingh. Dougla in the Twenty-First Century: Adding to the Mix. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2021. ISBN 9781496833709. See also CUNY Asian and Asian American Research Institute author interview on 19 November 2021.