Values and beliefs of Indo-Guyanese: An assessment of the assimilation hypothesis

Despite acknowledgments of pluralism, Caribbean family researchers often focus on the Afro-Caribbean families and do not satisfactorily address the issues of the IndoCaribbean people, who have been living in the region for well over a century. It is unclear from extant literature whether people of Indian origin in the Caribbean have remained ethnically separate or have blended into the dominant Creole culture of the Caribbean. This paper examines whether the Indo-Guyanese differ from the other Guyanese in their attitudes on marriage and views on exogamy. Findings from secondary analysis of cross-sectional data of Guyana collected in 2004, suggest that the Indo-Guyanese are distinct in their values and beliefs from the other Guyanese. The most common reason for marriage and benefit from marriage for the Indo-Guyanese is utilitarian rather than romantic, when compared to the other Guyanese. The IndoGuyanese hold more conservative views on importance of marriage and views exogamy, but there were clear gender differences as well irrespective of ethnic affiliation. These attitudinal differences about marriage suggest that some of the Indo-Guyanese values are different from that of thethe dominant Creole culture, which may be attributed to their cultural traits. Hence the concept “Guyanization” appears to be an ongoing process rather than a completed phenomenon, at least in the familial domain of the Indo-