SOLIDARITY OF CLASS AND SEXUAL POLITICS OF THE RELATIONS BETWEEN INDIANS/AFRICANS IN THE TRINITARIA LITERATURE

Trinidad and Tobago's population reflects a rich history of ethnic diversity. Managing this unique diversity has been a critical challenge to the post-independence nation state. In particular, relations between the two major ethnic groups, Indians and Africans, have emerged as the primary political, economic and cultural concern in Trinidad and Tobago. Working class solidarity has been and remains the primary theoretical proposition for Indian/African inter-ethnic solidarity. My project here is two-fold: I recuperate some lesser-known literary works that add to the body of fictional representations of this philosophy and I analyse the intersections between class and gender that define ethnic relations. In fulfilling the latter purpose, I stage dialogues between class and ethnicity and between politics and literature that problematize prominent discourses on Indian/African relations in Trinidad.