The Part 6 – LIVE Conversations with Indian Elders in the Diaspora about long time days by Staff Reporter
We have been inviting older folks – supported by their children and grandchildren – to share their personal stories about their life experiences in the 1940s, about 20 years after Indian indentureship officially ended in 1920. Historically, the actual voices of living elders are often unrecognised, underrepresented, unheard and undocumented in many research collections in the Caribbean and the wider Indian Diaspora. In this respect, Noor Kumar Mahabir’s book (1985) entitled The Still Cry: Personal Accounts of East Indians in Trinidad and Tobago During Indentureship, 1845-1917 is a rare, and unique exception.
“Most of our remote, and so much of our recent pasts, are not documented and, therefore lie outside the purview of mainline history. We must in that case devise other methods, based on different perspectives of history, to reconstruct such pasts to suit our purposes, including those of maintaining the depths of our roots and the strengthening of our autonomous identities. We have to bequeath to future generations more memories of our recent past, and our present, than we ourselves remember of our remote pasts. We must remember and reconstruct as much of our pasts as we can to present to the future.” – Epeli Hau’ofa, “Pasts to Remember,” 2000.
Please join us THIS SUNDAY for the 140th weekly ICC (+AGI) ZOOM Public Meeting, February 5th, 2023 at (1.00 p.m. Belize), (2.00 p.m. New York/Eastern time), (3.00 p.m. Trinidad/Atlantic time), (3.00 p.m. Guyana), (4.00 p.m. Suriname), (7.00 p.m. England), (9.00 p.m. South Africa), (Sun 12 midnight, India, ND), (Mon 7.00 a.m. Fiji).
TOPIC: The Part 6 – LIVE Conversations with Indian Elders in the Diaspora about long time days
ELDERS:
- Sushela Naidoo, 80 years old. Born in 1943, the same year women were allowed to become full ANC party members. Retired as the Principal of the School for the Deaf in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa
- Faiz Hydal, 83 years old. Born in 1935 with nine siblings. Retired as a high school teacher from ASJA Boys’ College. Author of four books, including his autobiography. Leads a very active social life.
- Zakiya Khan, 87 years old. Married to Amral Khan for 58 years, her life was filled with adventure and exploration as she travelled the world with her husband while co-managing Amral’s Travel Service.
- Una Khateejah Mohammed, 98 years old. Born in 1924. Married at the age of 20 for 56 years to the late Rashid Mohammed, a tailor whom she helped in his shop in Port of Spain. A cancer survivor.
With audience participation via the ZOOM chat box
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Live-streamed on the YouTube channel of the Indo-Caribbean Cultural Centre
https://www.youtube.com/user/dmahab
Hosted by www.indocaribbeanpublications.com + https://ameenagafoorinstitute.org
WhatsApp +1 868 756 4961 or +1 868 381 0386
indocaribbeanstaff@gmail.com, dmahabir@gmail.com
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is a full-time anthropologist at the University of Guyana (UG) and Fellow of The Eccles Centre for American Studies, British Library (2022-23). He is a former Assistant Professor at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT). He obtained his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Florida (UF). As a doctoral student, he won a Florida Caribbean Institute Award, an A. Curtis Wilgus Grant, and an Organization of American States (OAS) Fellowship.
Mahabir received a National Award (Hummingbird Silver Medal) for his contribution to education in his country in 2011. He was among 50 recipients who received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the UWI Alumni Association.
Mahabir is the author of 12 books to date.