Structural arrangements of Indo-Guyanese family: An assessment of the assimilation hypothesis

Type Journal Article - Journal of Comparative Family Studies
Title Structural arrangements of Indo-Guyanese family: An assessment of the assimilation hypothesis
Author(s)
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2009
Page numbers 439-454
URL http://ddi.wayne.edu/pdf/samuel_wilson_2009_.pdf
Abstract
Despite the acknowledgment of pluralism, Caribbean family literature often
focuses on the Afro-Caribbean family and does not satisfactorily address the issues of the
Indo-Caribbean family. This paper examines whether the Indo-Guyanese differ from the
dominant culture of the Anglophone Caribbean in the structural arrangements of the
family. Findings from secondary analysis of cross-sectional data of Guyana collected in
2004, suggest that the Indo-Guyanese significantly differ from the Afro-Guyanese in the
structural arrangements of the family. Indo-Guyanese were more likely to be in marital
unions and have longer marriages than the other racial groups, even when controlled for
age. These differences suggest that the present day Indo-Guyanese have not assimilated
into the dominant Creole culture, but have retained their cultural traits at least in the
structural domain of the family. Hence it was concluded that “Guyanization” appears to
be an ongoing process rather than a completed phenomenon in the familial domain of the
Indo-Guyanese.

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