Compared to other Caribbean islands’ heterogeneity, Barbados’ population has historically consisted of a black, African descended majority, and a minority Caucasian European descended group. The discourse on inequality and the articulation of differences in Barbados have always centered on a black-white dichotomy, and the categorization system has thus almost always been one based on ‘race’ rather than ‘ethnicity.’
A growing East Indian population that constitutes two distinct ethnic minority East Indian groups; the Sindhis and Gujratis, has lent an added cultural complexity to the Barbadian society. These minority groups’ location and relative economic success within the wider society as commercial minorities has meant that the hitherto focus on binary racial categorizations and the perception of the white minority as the sole market dominant group needs to be amended.
The use of the term ‘ethnic group’ in this study does not direct research attention away from race, but instead demonstrates an interest in how groups, as self-conscious collective actors, define themselves in relation to others. This qualitative study seeks to examine the historically central role of racial categorization in Barbados, its relationship to ethnic-dominant minorities, and the perceptions that each group in Barbados has about race and ethnic dominance.