Expert: Aupmanyav - 3/15/2008

Question
Hello, I'm a Jamaican female who was is "mixed". I was wondering if there was a specific name for the Indian descendants. For example, white persons are called Caucasians, and black persons are called Afro-Caribbean, persons from places like Mexico and Hispaniola are called Latinos. In Jamaica, we refer to descendants of Indian indentured servants as Indians. But i would think that the term "indians" should be reserved for persons who were BORN in India. Is there a particular name for this ethnicity? Thanks so much.

Answer
Dear Taleya,

Unfortunately, there is no such word. Even being an Indian was stolen from us by this name being given by the Europeans to the original inhabitants of West Indies, North and South America. If we call ourselves as 'persons of Indian origin', these could even be the West Indians, North and South American Indian aboriginals. 'Bharatiya-mool' (roots in India) is the closest that we can go, and it can apply to persons of all religions, hindus, muslims, parsis (if parsis also went to West Indies). Regards,

Aupmanyav