Dougla people (plural Douglas) are Caribbean people who are of
mixedAfrican and
Indian descent. The word Dougla (also Dugla or Dogla) is used throughout the Dutch and
English-speaking Caribbean.
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".[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]
There are sporadic records of Indo-Euro interracial relationships, both consensual and nonconsensual, before any ethnic mixing of the African and Indian variety.[4]
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
Cletus Ali, Trinidadian musician, better known as Mighty Dougla
Barratt, Sue A, and Aleah N. Ranjitsingh. Dougla in the Twenty-First Century: Adding to the Mix. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2021.
ISBN9781496833709. See also CUNY Asian and Asian American Research Institute
author interview on 19 November 2021.
Dougla people (plural Douglas) are Caribbean people who are of
mixedAfrican and
Indian descent. The word Dougla (also Dugla or Dogla) is used throughout the Dutch and
English-speaking Caribbean.
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".[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]
There are sporadic records of Indo-Euro interracial relationships, both consensual and nonconsensual, before any ethnic mixing of the African and Indian variety.[4]
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
Cletus Ali, Trinidadian musician, better known as Mighty Dougla
Barratt, Sue A, and Aleah N. Ranjitsingh. Dougla in the Twenty-First Century: Adding to the Mix. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2021.
ISBN9781496833709. See also CUNY Asian and Asian American Research Institute
author interview on 19 November 2021.