Despite acknowledgments of pluralism, Caribbean family researchers often focus
on the Afro-Caribbean families and do not satisfactorily address the issues of the IndoCaribbean
people, who have been living in the region for well over a century. It is
unclear from extant literature whether people of Indian origin in the Caribbean have
remained ethnically separate or have blended into the dominant Creole culture of the
Caribbean. This paper examines whether the Indo-Guyanese differ from the other
Guyanese in their attitudes on marriage and views on exogamy. Findings from
secondary analysis of cross-sectional data of Guyana collected in 2004, suggest that the
Indo-Guyanese are distinct in their values and beliefs from the other Guyanese. The
most common reason for marriage and benefit from marriage for the Indo-Guyanese is
utilitarian rather than romantic, when compared to the other Guyanese. The IndoGuyanese
hold more conservative views on importance of marriage and views exogamy,
but there were clear gender differences as well irrespective of ethnic affiliation. These
attitudinal differences about marriage suggest that some of the Indo-Guyanese values
are different from that of thethe dominant Creole culture, which may be attributed to their
cultural traits. Hence the concept “Guyanization” appears to be an ongoing process
rather than a completed phenomenon, at least in the familial domain of the IndoGuyanese.