Call for Chapters: Religion, Conversion and Cultural Memory in
Indo-Caribbean Women’s Writing

Edited by:
Prof. Nandini C. Sen, University of Delhi
Sahin Shah, University of Delhi

Contact emails:
nandinicsen@bharati.du.ac.in | sahin.shah@gargi.du.ac.in

We invite chapter proposals for an edited scholarly collection that
critically examines the religious dimensions of Indo-Caribbean women’s
literature, with a specific focus on conversion, resistance, and
cultural memory. This volume will explore how Indo-Caribbean women
writers engage with Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam, addressing the
gendered and ideological tensions of community rupture, religious
fidelity, and transgenerational transmission in diasporic settings.

Although the field has seen increasing attention to Indo-Caribbean
women’s narratives, the only existing anthology, Critical Perspectives
on Indo-Caribbean Women’s Literature (Routledge, 2013), edited by Joy
Mahabir and Mariam Pirbhai, offers a seminal and comprehensive view of
the field, but does not focus specifically on religion or religious
conversion. This proposed volume responds directly to that scholarly
gap by centering faith, religious identity, and community resistance
as its main analytical frameworks.

We seek essays that analyze conversion to Christianity—often framed as
a path to education or scholarship—as a literary motif that reveals
trauma, survival, loss, or reinvention. We are also interested in how
Indo-Caribbean women’s literature articulates resistance to conversion
through the active preservation of ancestral faiths, oral traditions,
and ritual practices. Particular attention is given to the Hindu katha
tradition, Muslim hosay, food habits, wedding and other celebratory
songs as modes of storytelling and resistance embedded in community
life, especially among women.

Crucially, the volume also investigates how Hindu nationalism and
Islamic revivalism, emerging strongly in early 20th-century India,
influence diasporic religious consciousness in Indo-Caribbean writing.
Drawing on frameworks such as Steven Vertovec’s The Hindu Diaspora:
Comparative Patterns (Routledge, 2000), contributors may consider how
transnational flows of ideology shape narratives of belonging,
identity politics, and cultural purity in the Indo-Caribbean context.
Writers such as Lakshmi Persaud, Shani Mootoo, and Ryhaan Shah explore
these tensions explicitly, navigating between cultural heritage and
religious imposition.

We welcome proposals that explore individual or comparative
perspectives on novels, poetry, short fiction, memoir, and oral
narratives that reflect these concerns.

Suggested Authors (not limited to):
Lakshmi Persaud, Ramabai Espinet, Peggy Mohan, Ryhaan Shah, Anna
Mahase, Mahadai Das, Rajkumari Singh, Shani Mootoo, Jan Shinebourne,
Oonya Kempadoo, Lelawattee Manoo-Rahming, Rajandaye Ramkissoon-Chen,
Ismene Krishnadath, Narmala Shewcharan

Suggested Topics (include but are not limited to):

Representations of conversion to Christianity in Indo-Caribbean women’s fiction
Resistance to conversion through religious storytelling, memory, and
community activities
Katha, hosay, phagwa, matikor as literary and cultural repositories of
resistance
Role of folk songs, orality, and language in sustaining spiritual traditions
Influence of Hindu nationalism and Islamic revivalism on diasporic identities
Role of Arya Samaj and Hindu Mahasabha in identity formation
The gendered impact of missionary education and Christian moral codes
Caste, patriarchy, and religious hierarchy in plantation and
post-indenture societies
Queer subjectivities and religious identity formation
Syncretism, dual faith, or dislocation in diasporic women’s narratives
Churches, mandirs, and mosques as contested sites in fiction
Literary responses to diasporic religious policing or orthodoxy
Generational tensions around ancestral religion

Submission Guidelines:
Please submit a chapter proposal (250–300 words) and a short bio (100
words) to the editors at nandinicsen@bharati.du.ac.in or
sahin.shah@gargi.du.ac.in by August 31, 2025.

Notification of acceptance will be sent by September 30, 2025. Final
chapters (5,000–6,000 words) will be due by December 31, 2025.

For informal inquiries or expressions of interest, please contact the
editors at the email addresses above