Coolie can be traced back to the Hindi kûlî, qulî, meaning, "hired laborer.”
literally means "bitterly
hard (use of) strength". The
word "coolie" is also used commonly in the Hindi language to refer to porters…In Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and other parts of the Caribbean… the word was commonly used to denote any
person of
Indian origin or descent. Nowadays, it is often considered an offensive racial slur on par with "nigger.” Its use by non-Indians is usually seen as extremely offensive, but it
may be used by
people of
Indian descent in a neutral or positive
way.
Therefore, I'd like to introduce an alternative term. Indo-Caribbeans. First, in defining “Indo-Caribbean-ness” one must consider what this term means in the context of the Caribbean, verses here in Canada. Moreover, it is important to address Indo-Caribbeans by not only their race, culture, and ethnicity but also in terms of social, political, and economic contributions, which they had made in the countries they reside in.
The
definition of “Indo-Caribbean-ness” must also avoid making ethnic and racial distinctions by fragmenting the term “Indian-ness” and “Caribbean-ness” as different, when in fact it, through the process of Creolization, there is a fusion between the two. The
word Indo-Caribbean is moreover, an academic term used to establish difference, and as result is not widely used by those in the Caribbean—Indians verses Indo-Caribbeans. Hence, the term appears more frequently in communities like Toronto, where it not only represents difference, but also unifies group members in establishments like the Indo-Caribbean
World and Ontario
Society Serving Indo-Caribbean Canadians (OSSIC). Notably, the term continues to pronunciate through use in Canada, acting to differentiate “us” from the “other,” where Indo-Caribbeans are distinctly not Black-Caribbeans, nor are they East-Indians, Pakistanis, or any other group, which they are easily misidentified as, and therefore put into isolated categories or “same-ness.”
