Dougla people

Dougla (English: /ˈdoʊɡlə/ – from Caribbean Hindustani dugalaa 'mixed') is a term used to describe people who are of mixed African and Indian descent.

Dougla people
Regions with significant populations
Caribbean (notably in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Grenada,Guadeloupe, and Martinique) Diaspora in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the Netherlands
Languages
Caribbean English (predominantly Trinidadian Creole, Guyanese Creole, Sranan Tongo, Jamaican Patois, Saint Lucian Creole), French, Dutch, Papiamento, Caribbean Hindustani
Religion
Christianity Hinduism Islam Afro-American religions Irreligion
Related ethnic groups
Afro-Caribbeans, Indo-Caribbeans

Definition

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" (literally bastard, of two fathers). 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.

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.

In the French West Indies (Guadeloupe, Martinique), Afro-Indian people used to be referred to as Batazendyen or Chapé-Kouli.

History

There are sporadic records of Indo-Euro interracial relationships, both consensual and nonconsensual, before any ethnic mixing of the African and Indian variety.

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.

In Trinidad culture

In 1961, the calypsonian musician Mighty Dougla (born Cletus Ali) described the predicament of Douglas:

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"

Notable Douglas

Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, & Jamaica

Cletus Ali, Trinidadian musician, better known as Mighty Dougla
Andre Rampersad, Trinidadian footballer
Kenny J, calypsonian
Eddy Grant, Guyanese singer
Gema Ramkeesoon, social worker and women's-rights activist (Trinidad and Tobago)
Rohit Jagdeo, Guyanese politician
Diego Biseswar, Surinamese footballer
Super Cat, Jamaican deejay
Marlene Malahoo Forte, politician (Jamaica)
Amy Ashwood Garvey, activist (Jamaica)
Lisa Hanna, Miss World 1993, MP for Saint Ann South Eastern
Kenneth Salick, chutney soca singer
Krishmar Santokie, cricketer
Edward Seaga, banker, businessman, politician and former Prime Minister of Jamaica
Abrahim Simmonds, youth advocate (Jamaica)
Toni-Ann Singh, Miss World 2019 (Jamaica)

India

Masaba Gupta, actress and fashion designer (Antiguan and Indian)

Netherlands

Darryl Lachman, footballer (Netherlands; Curaçaoan and Surinamese background)
Furdjel Narsingh, footballer (Netherlands; Surinamese background)
Luciano Narsingh, footballer (Netherlands; Surinamese background)
Prince Rajcomar, footballer (Netherlands; Curaçaoan and Surinamese background)

United Kingdom

Sir Trevor McDonald, Trinidadian British news anchor and journalist
Esther Anderson, actress (United Kingdom; born in Jamaica)
Johnson Beharry, Grenadian British soldier in the British Army
Melissa Bell, Jamaican-British singer and mother of Alexandra Burke
Katharine Birbalsingh, teacher and education reformer
Alexandra Burke, British-Jamaican singer and daughter of Melissa Bell
Jeffery Kissoon, actor
Nick Sagar, British actor and model
Sean Sagar, British actor and model
Joyce Vincent, British woman whose death went unnoticed for over two years (Grenadian of black and Indian ancestry)

United States and Canada

Tatyana Ali, Indo-Trinidadian/Afro-Panamanian American actress
Nicki Minaj, Trinidadian music artist

David Chariandy, Canadian author with Trinidadian parents
Frances-Anne Solomon, British-Canadian filmmaker with Trinidadian parents
Mervyn Dymally, Trinidadian-American politician
Rajee Narinesingh, LGBT activist (United States; Trinidadian and Tobagonian background)
Melanie Fiona, Canadian artist with Guyanese parents
Nicole Beharie, actress
Foxy Brown, rapper (United States; Trinidadian and Tobagonian background)
Tanya Chutkan, jurist and lawyer
Special Ed, rapper (United States; Jamaican background)
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
Diana King, singer (United States; born in Jamaica)
Vashtie Kola, music-video director
Sonnet L'Abbé, Guyanese Canadian poet
Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj, playwright
Nicole Narain, model and actress
Roxanne Persaud, politician (United States; born in Guyana)
Thara Prashad, American singer and model
Mary Rambaran-Olm, literary scholar specializing in early medieval England from the fifth to eleventh centuries
Justine Skye, entertainer (Jamaica)
XXXTentacion, rapper