Dougla people (plural ''Douglas'') are Caribbean people who are of mixed African and Indian descent. The word ''Dougla'' (also Dugla or Dogla) is used throughout the Dutch and
English-speaking Caribbean
The Commonwealth Caribbean is the region of the Caribbean with English-speaking countries and territories, which once constituted the Caribbean portion of the British Empire and are now part of the Commonwealth of Nations. The term includes ma ...
.
Definition
The word ''Dougla'' originated from doogala (), which is a
Caribbean Hindustani
Caribbean Hindustani is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by Indo-Caribbeans and the Indo-Caribbean diaspora. It is mainly based on the Bhojpuri and Awadhi dialects. These Hindustani dialects were the most spoken dialects by the Indians who came as i ...
word that literally means "two-necks" and may mean "many", "much" or "a mix". In the West Indies, the word is used only for
mixed race
Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...
Afro-Indians. The word has its etymological roots in Hindi, where "do" means "two" and "gala" means "throat," potentially referring to people who could speak Indian and African languages.
The 2012 Guyana census identified 29.25% of the population as
Afro-Guyanese
Afro-Guyanese are generally descended from the enslaved people brought to Guyana from the coast of West Africa to work on sugar plantations during the era of the Atlantic slave trade. Coming from a wide array of backgrounds and enduring condition ...
, 39.83% as
Indo-Guyanese
Indo-Guyanese or Indian-Guyanese, are people of Indian origin who are Guyanese nationals tracing their ancestry to India and the wider subcontinent. They are the descendants of indentured servants and settlers who migrated from India beginnin ...
, and 19.88% as "mixed," recognized as mostly representing the offspring of the former two groups.
In the French West Indies ( Guadeloupe,
Martinique
Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in ...
), mixed Afro-Indian people used to be called Batazendyen or Chapé-Kouli.
History
There are sporadic records of Indo-Euro interracial relationships, both consensual and nonconsensual, before any ethnic mixing of the African and Indian variety.
Other Indo-based types of mixed heritage (Indo-Chinese (
Chindians
Chindian ( zh, c=中印人, p=Zhōngyìnrén, cy=Jūngyanyàn; ta, சிந்தியன்; is an informal term used to refer to a person of mixed Chinese and Indian ancestry; i.e. from any of the host of ethnic groups native to modern Ch ...
Anglo-Indian
Anglo-Indian people fall into two different groups: those with mixed Indian and British ancestry, and people of British descent born or residing in India. The latter sense is now mainly historical, but confusions can arise. The '' Oxford English ...
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
, Indo-
Arabs
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
and Indo-
Amerindian
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples.
Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...
) tended to identify as one of the older, unmixed ethnic strains on the island: Afro, Indo, Amerindian or Euro or passing as one of them.
Johnson Beharry
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British Army
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Jamaican British
British Jamaicans (or Jamaican British people) are British people who were born in Jamaica or who are of Jamaican descent. The community is well into its third generation and consists of around 300,000 individuals, the second-largest Jamaican ...
Super Cat
William Anthony Maragh (born 25 June 1963),Huey, Steve " Super Cat Biography, Allmusic, retrieved 18 July 2010 also known as Super Cat, is a Jamaican deejay who achieved widespread popularity during the late 1980s and early 1990s dancehall mo ...
, Jamaican deejayBarrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) ''The Rough Guide to Reggae'', Rough Guides, , p. 286
* Sabrina Colie, actress (United States; born in Jamaica)
*
Mervyn Dymally
Mervyn Malcolm Dymally (May 12, 1926 – October 7, 2012) was an American politician from California. He served in the California State Assembly (1963–66) and the California State Senate (1967–75) as the 41st Lieutenant Governor of Californ ...
, Trinidadian American politician
* Special Ed, rapper (United States; Jamaican background)
* Marlene Malahoo Forte, politician (Jamaica)
* Amy Ashwood Garvey, activist (Jamaica)
* Masaba Gupta, actress and fashion designer (Antiguan and Indian)
*
Lisa Hanna
Lisa Rene Shanti Hanna (born August 20, 1975) is a Jamaican politician and beauty queen who was crowned Miss World 1993, becoming the third Jamaican to win the title. A member of the opposition People's National Party, Hanna currently serves a ...
, Miss World 1993, MP Saint Ann South Eastern
*
Kamala Harris
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, Vice-President of the United States (Jamaican and South Indian)
* Maya Harris, lawyer and writer (Jamaican and South Indian)
*
Lester Holt
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Diana King
Diana King (born 8 November 1970) is a Jamaican-American singer-songwriter who performs a mixture and fusion of reggae, reggae fusion and dancehall. They were born to an Indo-Jamaican mother and an Afro-Jamaican father. They are best known f ...
, singer (United States; born in Jamaica)
* Jeffery Kissoon, actor
*
Sonnet L'Abbé
Sonnet L'Abbé, is a Canadian poet, editor, professor and critic. As a poet, L'Abbé writes about national identity, race, gender and language.
Career
L'Abbé has a PhD in English literature from the University of British Columbia, a master's d ...
,
Guyanese Canadian
Guyanese Canadians are Canadian citizens of Guyanese descent or Guyana-born persons who reside in Canada.
The following are notable Canadians of Guyanese descent:
Notable Guyanese Canadians
Entertainers
*Anjulie - singer
*Dave Baksh - lead g ...
Nicki Minaj
Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (; born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian-born rapper based in the United States. She is known for her musical versatility, animated Flow (rapping), flow in her rapping, alter e ...
, singer, rapper (United States; born in Trinidad and Tobago)
* Nicole Narain, model and actress
* Rajee Narinesingh, LGBT activist (United States; Trinidadian and Tobagonian background)
* Furdjel Narsingh, footballer (Netherlands; Surinamese background)
* Luciano Narsingh, footballer (Netherlands; Surinamese background)
* Roxanne Persaud, politician (United States; born in Guyana)
* Yendi Phillips, model (Jamaica)
* Thara Prashad, singer and model
* Gema Ramkeesoon, social worker and women's rights activist (Trinidad and Tobago)
*
Kumar Rocker
Kumar Rocker (born November 22, 1999) is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Texas Rangers organization. He played college baseball for the Vanderbilt Commodores. He was selected with the 10th pick in the 2021 Major League Baseball ...
Toni-Ann Singh
Toni-Ann Singh (born February 1996) is a Jamaican beauty queen who won Miss World 2019. She was previously crowned Miss Jamaica World 2019 and is the fourth woman from Jamaica to win Miss World. She is also the longest-reigning Miss World in the ...
, Miss World 2019 (Jamaica)
*
XXXTentacion
Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy (January 23, 1998 – June 18, 2018), known professionally as XXXTentacion, was an American rapper and singer-songwriter. Though a controversial figure due to his widely publicized legal troubles, XXXTentacion ga ...
, rapper
*
Justine Skye
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Early l ...
, entertainer (Jamaica)
* Joyce Vincent, British woman whose death went unnoticed for over two years (Grenadian of Black and Indian ancestry)