This book expands notions of the Caribbean diaspora, which is often cast in very specific ways, so as to account for the Asian as part of the Caribbean and Caribbean diaspora. It seeks to be descriptive, while also countering a limited discourse on the Caribbean diaspora.
The Asian Caribbean in the Caribbean Diaspora is grounded in the very histories and legacies of indentureship, contract labor, later migrations to the region, and encounter. The Asian presence has long been felt in the greater Caribbean – the result of colonial powers which necessitated labor on Caribbean plantations against the backdrop of empire and burgeoning capitalist structures; and later migrations as "free" migrants compelled by emigration schemes and economic opportunity. This work is descriptive, while also countering a limited discourse on the Caribbean diaspora. Its collection of interdisciplinary chapters which center the Chinese, Indian, Japanese and Javanese in and outside of the Caribbean, reveal migration narratives, encounters on Caribbean plantations and in diasporic urban centers, notions of homeland and experiences of return, family histories, identity formation and subjectivity, the ways in which Caribbean people create and convey meaning about these histories, experiences and self, and the contributions of Caribbean people of Asian descent to the framing of the Caribbean and Asian diasporas.