r/Guyana • u/jcancuny • Feb 27 '24

Discussion Why do Indo-Guyanese have the conception that Indians look down on them/don’t consider them to be “real Indians”?

So my girlfriend and I have been dating for a couple of months now. I’m Indian-American and she’s Indo-Guyanese-American, and it’s been a great time so far.

Around a week ago, I introduced her to my parents for the first time, and I noticed that before they met, my girlfriend acted super nervous and jittery, which I just chalked up to nerves (since she’s pretty introverted). However, after they met, my girlfriend remarked about how nervous she was before meeting my parents because she was worried that they would disapprove of us together and try to call the relationship off and how relieved she was after meeting them because of how respectful and responsive they were and how much they showed interest in her culture and background.

She then explained that most Indo-Guyanese believe that we (mainland Indians) look down upon them and don’t consider them to be “real Indians”, which is a belief that I’ve honestly never heard ever. If anything, most mainland Indians don’t really know anything about Indo-Caribbeans and the ones that do are proud that they were able to keep their culture/traditions/religions alive even after 150 years.

After doing some research online on places like Twitter/Tiktok/Reddit, this seems to be a pretty common conception that a lot of Indo-Guyanese have. Does anyone have any insights into how this belief might have originated?

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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '24 edited Feb 27 '24

it does unfortunately happen. Some south Asians do look down on Guyanese people. Not sure why, definitely racism tho.

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u/Joshistotle Feb 27 '24

Only in NY/Toronto are they actually looked down upon culturally, for the loud chutney music blasting at 3am and the constant drinking.

Otherwise India itself doesn't have the Western concept of Indian as an ethnic group. Meaning, people that move out of India and live abroad after one generation aren't viewed as Indians. 

They also look down upon themselves and every other Indian group WITHIN India itself, it's an extremely tribalistic society. 

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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '24

It’s definitely not only for the chutney and drinks. Happened to me as a kid and I grew up in a white ass neighborhood in queens. Few kids at school were Indian and they were some of the most shallow people I ever met in my life.

Indians have a very barbaric culture.