Caribbean Visionary: A. R. F. Webber and the Making of the Guyanese Nation

Note on Nomenclature

NOTE ON NOMENCLATURE GUYANA POSSESSES A VERY DIVERSE POPULATION with many interlocking and changing definitions. The population consists of the American Indians, who are now called “First Nation” or the “First People.” The term “Bovianders” refers to persons of American Indian and African ancestry. There are the Europeans who colonized the land, Africans who were brought to the colony and who were called Negroes. Until the end of the nineteenth century, negroid people were called Africans and Creole Africans. A recent study even speaks of race and politics among Africans and Indians. Today, we generally refer to Guyanese of African descent as Afro-Guyanese, even though they were called Africans during the nineteenth century. During the period within which this study is set, the upper and middle classes viewed the term “African” with derision. East Indians refer to the people who were bought from India to Guyana in 1838 as Indians. Those who stayed after indentureship ended were referred to as Creole Indians. Today they are referred to as Indo-Guyanese. There are also the Chinese who came from China and the Portuguese who, although they are Europeans, were never placed in the same social category or standing as northern Europeans. In Guyana and Trinidad, they were looked down upon as being less than Europeans. There is also the colored population, those of mixed stock, “who while coloured in appearance , possessed ‘a large infusion of European blood.’” Webber was of this colored stock, even though he referred to himself as being a “black man” and would be so considered today. All of these terms are used interchangeable in this study with the necessary qualifications. xiii This page intentionally left blank CARIBBEAN VISIONARY This page intentionally left blank ...