Bindi is the sequel to Rosanne Kanhai’s 1999 edited volume, “Matikor”: The Politics
of Identity for Indo-Caribbean Women.1 In her introduction to that groundbreaking
collection, Kanhai (1999: xii) wrote that “Indo-Caribbean women
remain a token presence in the predominantly Afro-Caribbean feminist discourse.”
In this new book Kanhai focuses on “the multifaceted ways in which
Indo-Caribbean women of different religious backgrounds have shaped their
lives and come to understand themselves” (p. 3) and argues that the bindi, the
traditional round dot on a Hindu woman’s forehead, has become an international
fashion accessory. She sees this trend “as indicative of the power of the
bindi to escape cultural boundaries and to effectively belong to all women …
The contemporary bindi carries a hint of exoticism but is not a symbol of
otherness” (p. 2). Kanhai views the bindi as a symbol of hybridization and
personalization: “Every woman on every occasion designs her own bindi, and
after each wearing it is washed away” (p. 7). The bindi, then, is the symbol of
inner strengths of Indo-Caribbean women who are confidently facing global
opportunities and challenges, without being restricted by demands of ethnic
loyalty.