"Coolie" was a pejorative used to denigrate Indians in the Caribbean and literally translates into "laborer" or "porter." Following in the lineage of venerated Guyanese cultural activist Rajkumari Singh, we at Jahajee Sisters RECLAIM the word coolie as part of our feminism. It is part of lifting up our unique cultural heritage as Indo-Caribbeans, and owning our identity. As a people who have survived multiple migrations and oppressive attempts to strip us of our culture, we support each other to hold onto ancestral wisdom as part of our healing. This allows us to remain resilient.

The Indian women who arrived in the Caribbean were not the "right" kind of women. They were poor and on the fringes of society, many of them widows and sex workers.

In a way, they were resisting gender norms perhaps without even knowing it.

Those who went willingly were seeking to escape poverty, gendered humiliation, and being outcasted from "proper" or "Hindu" society. Many social and economic circumstances forced them to become independent or, in the words of men, "uncontrollable." They were given the work with the lowest wages -- weeding and cane-cutting. They were eventually pressured into subjugation by men and domestic life in order to make Indians "respectable" to the Western gaze.

Despite all the adversity, coolie women made a way out of no way. Their hope, resilience, and legacy is wind beneath our wings. We honor them, today and every day. We honor them every time we utter that powerful word "COOLIE".

For a good read about our women ancestors, we encourage you to check out Gaiutra Bahadurs's "Coolie Woman."