Diaspora Erfgoed in Beweging in collaboration with the Indo-Caribbean Cultural Centre (ICC), is organising an online seminar on 26 October: Cultural Heritage and Identity among the Descendants of Indian Indentured Labourers in Diaspora. 

The session will be broadcast live via Zoom and YouTube as part of the ICC Sunday Public Meeting series: at 9.00 p.m. (Netherlands) | 4.00 p.m. (Suriname) | 3.00 p.m. (Trinidad/Guyana/New York).

Zoom code: 833 0752 7603 or  YouTube Channel: Indo-Caribbean Cultural Centre

With our distinguish speakers:

Peter Manuel

Peter Manuel is emeritus professor of ethnomusicology at John Jay College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He has researched and published extensively on the musics of India, the Caribbean, Spain, and beyond. His influential books include Tales, Tunes, and Tassa Drums: Retention and Invention in Indo-Caribbean Music; East Indian Music in the West Indies: Tan-Singing, Chutney, and the Making of Indo-Caribbean Culture; and Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae. He has also produced three documentary films, including Tassa Thunder: Folk Music from India to the Caribbean. A former amateur performer of sitar, jazz and flamenco guitar, and Highland bagpipes, Manuel combines deep scholarship with a musician’s insight.

In his talk, he offers a concise overview situating Indo-Surinamese neo-traditional music—including baithak gana—within its wider transnational network, drawing connections to related traditions in Trinidad, Guyana, India, and beyond, with references to the Netherlands and Fiji. His presentation will explore how these musical forms reflect broader processes of globalization, adaptation, and cultural continuity among the descendents of indentured laborers.

Arie Gautier 

Born in Antananarivo in 1965, Ari Gautier is a French writer and poet of Indo-Malagasy origin. He is described by Alain Mabanckou as “one of the greatest storytellers of our time”.  His debut novel, Secret Diary of Lakshmi, introduced his exploration of indentured servitude, a theme further developed in Le Thinnai and throughout his subsequent works. Through his fiction and poetry, Gautier gives voice to the untold stories of Pondicherry’s indentured laborers, often viewed through the lens of Dalitality. His poetry collection Songes des archipels silencieux (Dreams of the Quiet Archipelago) delves into memory, silence, and the lingering echoes of colonialism, slavery, and exile. Forthcoming works include Mémoire de canneraies (Memory of Sugarcane Fields), a collection of short stories on women in plantation life, and Krèyofuturisme: La légende de Maldévilin, which reimagines the deities who accompanied indentured laborers across the seas.

In his presentation, he will explore the significance of Dalitality in the context of indentured servitude, using the tappu or parai drum as a point of entry. Through this instrument—an essential element of Hindu ritual practice—he highlights the rich cultural and spiritual heritage embedded in its sound and symbolism. The Malabar drum, long associated with questions of identity and authenticity, has evolved into a ritual instrument that carries social and religious authority within the Indian diaspora.

Vishnu Biram

Dr. Vishnu Bisram was born in Guyana, where he received his primary and secondary education before pursuing higher studies in the United States and India. He holds multiple degrees across the natural and social sciences as well as education, and has taught for over forty years in the United States.

A leading researcher and commentator on the global Indian diaspora, Dr. Bisram has travelled extensively to document and engage with Indian communities worldwide. He has organized numerous international conferences on diaspora studies and lectured at universities across the globe.

Beyond academia, he was part of a small group of freedom fighters in the United States who opposed the Guyanese dictatorship between 1968 and 1992. Dr. Bisram has published widely on the Indian diaspora and a range of related social and political topics.

In his presentation he will talk about the Cultural Persistence among Indians in Guyana and the USA.

Chatradari Devroop

Chatradari “Chats” Devroop is an Associate Professor and Academic Leader for Research in the School of Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. An artist–academic, he draws inspiration from his own practice as a performer, composer, and educator. His music-making spans genres from art music to commercial styles, reflecting the cultural diversity that shapes South Africa’s soundscape.

Through his academic work, Devroop explores questions of diaspora, identity, and transformation within the South African music academy and beyond. His research and artistic practice together contribute to a broader conversation on how music can both reflect and reshape postcolonial experience.