Sounds of the Indo-Caribbean

Shazia Khan (Dr.) is an Assistant Professor of English at Malla Reddy University, Hyderabad, and Research Affiliate at the Centre for Study of Indian Diaspora, University of Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Her research sits at the intersections of migration, cultural identity, and sonic traditions. She specialises in Indo-Caribbean music, examining how sound shapes diasporic memory and belonging across transnational spaces.

“Shazia Khan excavates historical memory and traditions of music transported in the Jahaji bundles of Indian migrants to examine the significance this has for bridging memory gaps and cultivating a distinctive sense of identity. She follows the transformation of original instrumentation and vocal sounds from India that mix and merge to create a new authenticity of Indianness within the Caribbean and in its expanding western diaspora, intoning the lessons learnt of gender and sexual liberation, heterogeneity and the sacrosanct values of preserving a linear descent in musical culture.”Professor Patricia MohammedGender and Cultural Studies, The University of West Indies, Trinidad & Tobago, and author of ‘Gender Negotiations Among Indians in Trinidad 1917–1947’“While most studies on music in the Girmitiya diaspora focus on one society, this book details the development of a variety of Indo-Caribbean music. Shazia Khan discusses music as a carrier of diasporic consciousness, Girmitiya music in the diaspora, the construction of Girmitiya diasporic identity, musical expressions of patriotism, music as a carrier of cultures, and gender and sexuality. This book fills a gap in the literature of the Girmitiya diaspora.”Professor Ruben GowricharnResearch Fellow at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and author of‘Multiple Homemaking: The Ethnic Condition in Indian Diaspora Societies’“An insightful and contemporary account of the vibrant world of Caribbean Indian music production, with a distinctive and insightful account of the neglected role of women artists. This book skillfully weaves generational change, transnational nodes and musical journeys through mixed-research methods, essential elements for sonic diaspora studies in the digital era. Khan offers a monograph that will be of interest to specialists in diaspora musical studies as well as the general reader interested in musical change through time.”Professor Virinder S. KalraDepartment of Sociology, University of Warwick, UK, and author of‘Sacred & Secular Musics: A Postcolonial Approach’“Shazia Khan’s book provides an extensive and in-depth study of the role of music within the Indo-Caribbean diaspora. Drawing on a rich theoretical framework and a combined methodology of historical and ethnographic research, the book is an essential read for anyone interested in the intersections of music, memory, identity, and belonging in the diaspora.”Dr. Deimantas ValančiūnasInstitute of Asian and Transcultural Studies, Vilnius University, Lithuania, and co-editor of ‘South Asian Gothic: Haunted Cultures, Histories and Media’

• List of Tables & Figures; Foreword; Preface; Acknowledgments; Acronyms; Glossary; 1. Introduction; 2. “The Baggage I Carry”: Migration and Cultural Preservation; 3. “Reminiscent of My Heritage”: The Evolution of the Indo-Caribbean Music; 4. “Imagining the Homeland”: Diaspora, Music and Transnational Identity; 5. Conclusion; Bibliography; Annexure