Race Relations, Ethnicity, Class and Culture: A Comparison of Indians in Trinidad and Malaysia

In particular, the paper seeks to answer the following questions: (a) Why is it that a race relations framework is utilizable in Trinidad whereas ethnicity defines and locates the situation of In dians in Malaysia? (b) What are the factors which enable the Indian identity to be retained and activated in Trinidad and Malaysia? How may one juxtapose the variables of race, ethnicity and culture to arrive at the definition of Indian identity in 'plural' contexts? (c) What is the substantive status of defining the Indian com munity as a 'middle class' in Trinidadian towns and as 'proletarians' on Malaysian plantations? Does the class structure prove to be the determining framework of Indian identity over seas or do the variables of race relations and ethnicity take priority?