Communal Style: Indo-Caribbean Women’s Jewelry

Styles of Indo-Caribbean jewelry created during indentureship have been continually reproduced up to the present. Exploring the demand and desire for these styles, this essay suggests that there is a communal aesthetic underlying the production of the jewelry, influenced by the perception of the jewelry as a commentary on sociohistorical realities and gendered labor practices. Artists working in the diaspora, including British-Guyanese jeweler Vannetta Seecharran, have created experimental pieces that still retain the minimalist and communal aesthetics traditionally associated with Indo-Caribbean jewelry.