The book is a deconstruction of the political discourse of Simbhoonath Capildeo the progenitor of Hindu nationalist discourse in Trinidad and Tobago. Capildeo's Hindu nationalism is premised upon a rootedness in Trinidad and Tobago, a fervent praxis premised on bhakti (devotion) towards creating a discourse of Sanatan Dharma that was relevant to life in the west as a Hindu that was sustainable, and finally a political praxis that was demonstrably anti- racist and egalitarian in the tradition of democratic socialism.

This work is a deconstruction of the political discourse of politicians in Trinidad and Tobago from the 1950's to the present. This deconstruction has revealed a discourse of racist hegemony is the basis for political mobilisation in Trinidad and Tobago as it frames a mental image of a hegemonic race wielding state power over a dominated race consigned to the wilderness of opposition politics. The resources of the state exist then for the benefit of the hegemonic race and those who conceive of self as belonging to races in competition for state resources must then do their political duty to ensure the hegemony of their race. Politics has nothing to do with governance, personal and social development.

"This book deals with British colonial strategy in its colonies of Trinidad and Tobago and British Guiana/Guyana to deal with an East Indian threat to the political order it desired in the run up to independence for Trinidad and Tobago in the 1960's and the threat of Communist subversion in Guyana in the 1950's and 1960's. In both instances the British strategy called for the creation of a racist political order that destroyed the East Indian threat in Trinidad and Tobago and placed a minority race in power through successive fraudulent elections until the decade of the 1990's in Guyana. The British legacy in both instances is a racist social order premised upon racist hegemony."

This book explores the dynamics of the socio-cultural baggage that Indian indentured migrants took with them to the Caribbean island of Trinidad and how they have since become a vibrant diaspora community, namely the Indo-Trinidadians. It combines social history with first-hand fieldwork data to portray human ingenuity in terms of social reconstitution and community building in a hostile socio-cultural environment. Furthermore, it addresses key social institutions—religion, caste, and family—and cultural elements—language, foodways, and ethnicity. Its analytical framework is guided by the concept of metamorphosis; it steers clear of the persistence versus change hypotheses. Given its focus, it will be of interest to students and scholars of sociology, social anthropology, history, and migration and diaspora studies.

This book examines Hinduism from both a historical and contemporary perspective. It provides some interesting insights into factors that shaped and defined Hinduism in the diaspora. It also examines the challenges facing Hinduism in the twenty-first century. In recent years the growing conversions of Hindus to other religions, the complexities of caste, the impact of AIDS, and the need to reinvigorate the youth in Hindu teachings are just some of the issues that it faces. What shape and form will Hinduism take in the twenty-first century? What will Hinduism look like in the future? These relevant questions are the subject of debate and deliberations amongst religious scholars, academics and politicians. This edited collection addresses some of these questions as well as the relationship between religion and diaspora within historical and contemporary perspectives.

"It presents an alternative perspective on the end of Empire by focusing upon one aspect of constitutional decolonization and the importance of the local legal culture in determining each dependency's constitutional settlement, and provides a series of empirical case studies on the incorporation of human rights instruments into domestic constitutions when negotiated between a state and its dependencies. More generally this book highlights Britain's human rights legacy to its former Empire."--BOOK JACKET.

The book is about V. S. Naipaul who was born in Trinidad in 1932. At the age of 18, Naipaul left Trinidad on a scholarship to study literature at Oxford. He never returned to live in Trinidad. His first book was published in 1956, and by the time Trinidad achieved political independence in 1962, he had published four books and was firmly established as a writer in England. By the time Trinidad became a republic in 1976, Naipaul had written 13 books and had travelled through much of the postcolonial world. This book highlights how Trinidad and Naipaul were bound in a love-hate relationship where Naipaul continued to pass Trinidad off as a cynical island where “nothing was created” while Trinidad had its share by laying back a claim on him and his writing. It is generally perceived that Naipaul shunned his place of birth as he called his birth in Trinidad a “mistake,” Trinidad an “unimportant, uncreative, cynical” place and the Caribbean as the “Third World’s Third World.” His refusal to acknowledge Trinidad in his initial response to receiving the Nobel Prize added insult to injury. Yet, he was deeply bound to the island of Trinidad and his roots in the Indo-Trinidadian community. This book makes Naipaul’s connection to Trinidad more than evident and as such adds to the present body of knowledge.