Annotated Guide, Part 3 | theswingingbridge

Part III: Caroni Dub

Historical Archive & Silencing (H.A): Red

Migration (M): Gray

Oppression--Cultural (C.O.), Gender (G.O.), Sexual (S.O.): Pink

The Swinging Bridge (S.B.): Blue

Land (L): Black

H.A. Gainder story (247-249)
G.O. Some women went willingly; others were taken (247)
G.O. The shortage of women on Caribbean plantations of indenture was already leading to severe problems—wife-murder, choppings, beatings, serious crime (248)
H.A. “Gainder is a strong young woman and is soon transported to the plantation where she will work first as a weeder and then as a full-fledged cane-cutter, wielding her cutlass like any man for one-third of a man’s wages” (248)
H.A. “Joshua waits a full month after the wedding to tell Gainder that she must never sing or dance in public again. Her heart turns to stone when she hears these words” (249)
H.A. “I found myself ranting to her about the film and how much it vexed me that women’s actions were so often erased” (251)
H.A. “Indeed, nobody in the family had ever mentioned her, and I did not even know her name. I asked and was surprised at my mother’s sharply dismissive tone. ‘She was a woman they called Gainder. She took on the name Beharry, but it wasn’t her real name’” (251)
H.A. “She didn’t have a real name. I don’t even know whether Gainder was her first name. We don’t know too much about her. She was a low-class kind of person, you know, something like the old beggar woman in Ramgoolie Trace. You remember her?” (251)
Calypso (252) –Calypso in Glossary and Carnival and J’Ouvert
C.O. Money was needed and banks were for white people, for the local whites and high-browns (253)
H.A. Pictures (254)
H.A. Throw away the child (255)
G.O. “All Joshua could see was his one daughter’s life going down the drain. His one daughter, who had so much schooling and could do so much. After she finished school he sent her to Fanny’s Place, you know, where the missionaries used to train young girls to be good wives for the boys being educated” (255)
G.O. She knew it was the beating that killed the baby (255)
G.O. Good wife (256)
G.O. Sex was a crime (257)
C.O. Married Creole (260)
H.A. “I thought of Grandma Lil who did not marry the boy she had loved” (260)
H.A. Daisy (261)
H.A. “But what about Grandma Lil’s own mother, Gainder? Her songs, banned from the house when the children were growing up, rude songs sung in Hindi, intrigued me” (262)
H.A. “I made up my mind that when I went to Trinidad I would search for her songs until I found them. Gainder, the name of the humble yellow marigold, used in Hindu rituals of worship” (262)
S.B. Bridge across the Caroni River (264)
H.A. Words (266)
H.A. Aunt Alice’s book on the history of the family (271)
H.A. “Gainder: Lily’s mother was named Gainder. She came from India in the nineteenth century. She died in childbirth” (271)
Artist (272) –Kala Pani in Historical Context
H.A. Story of Gainder (273-274)
H.A. All of it was there. Everything about us, where we came from, our connected to despised women like Gainder Beharry, like Baboonie, the journey on those ships of indenture in the nineteenth century (274)
H.A. A runaway woman from a village, a journey by night, a decision to leave India. A woman alone. A story waiting to be told—my own story (275)
G.O. But violence had increased…especially domestic violence (278)
Reggae and calypso (282) -Calypso in Glossary and Carnival and J’Ouvert in Historical Context
H.A. Gainder’s songs (295-297)
Indian celebration (300) –Divali in Glossary
Caroni Dub (305-306) –Cultural Hybridity in Historical Context

Part III: Caroni Dub

H.A. Gainder story (247-249)

G.O. Some women went willingly; others were taken (247)

G.O. The shortage of women on Caribbean plantations of indenture was already leading to severe problems—wife-murder, choppings, beatings, serious crime (248)

H.A. “Gainder is a strong young woman and is soon transported to the plantation where she will work first as a weeder and then as a full-fledged cane-cutter, wielding her cutlass like any man for one-third of a man’s wages” (248)

H.A. “Joshua waits a full month after the wedding to tell Gainder that she must never sing or dance in public again. Her heart turns to stone when she hears these words” (249)

H.A. “I found myself ranting to her about the film and how much it vexed me that women’s actions were so often erased” (251)

H.A. “Indeed, nobody in the family had ever mentioned her, and I did not even know her name. I asked and was surprised at my mother’s sharply dismissive tone. ‘She was a woman they called Gainder. She took on the name Beharry, but it wasn’t her real name’” (251)

H.A. “She didn’t have a real name. I don’t even know whether Gainder was her first name. We don’t know too much about her. She was a low-class kind of person, you know, something like the old beggar woman in Ramgoolie Trace. You remember her?” (251)

Calypso (252) –Calypso in Glossary and Carnival and J’Ouvert

C.O. Money was needed and banks were for white people, for the local whites and high-browns (253)

H.A. Pictures (254)

H.A. Throw away the child (255)

G.O. She knew it was the beating that killed the baby (255)

G.O. Good wife (256)

G.O. Sex was a crime (257)

C.O. Married Creole (260)

H.A. “I thought of Grandma Lil who did not marry the boy she had loved” (260)

H.A. Daisy (261)

H.A. “But what about Grandma Lil’s own mother, Gainder? Her songs, banned from the house when the children were growing up, rude songs sung in Hindi, intrigued me” (262)

H.A. “I made up my mind that when I went to Trinidad I would search for her songs until I found them. Gainder, the name of the humble yellow marigold, used in Hindu rituals of worship” (262)

S.B. Bridge across the Caroni River (264)

H.A. Words (266)

H.A. Aunt Alice’s book on the history of the family (271)

H.A. “Gainder: Lily’s mother was named Gainder. She came from India in the nineteenth century. She died in childbirth” (271)

Artist (272) –Kala Pani in Historical Context

H.A. Story of Gainder (273-274)

H.A. All of it was there. Everything about us, where we came from, our connected to despised women like Gainder Beharry, like Baboonie, the journey on those ships of indenture in the nineteenth century (274)

H.A. A runaway woman from a village, a journey by night, a decision to leave India. A woman alone. A story waiting to be told—my own story (275)

G.O. But violence had increased…especially domestic violence (278)

Reggae and calypso (282) -Calypso in Glossary and Carnival and J’Ouvert in Historical Context

H.A. Gainder’s songs (295-297)

Indian celebration (300) –Divali in Glossary

Caroni Dub (305-306) –Cultural Hybridity in Historical Context