The Haunted Cane Fields of Queer Indo-Caribbean Poetry and Qoolie Poetics | CU Experts

Abstract; This chapter looks at four Indo-Caribbean poets who identify as queer to show the potential of Ryan Persadie’s notion of the Qoolie. The chapter also expands this term’s usage to include queer discursive possibilities for the poetics of the descendants of the Indian labor diaspora. The specific focus in this chapter is on descendants living in the Caribbean as well as those who have migrated to North America. The chapter begins by discussing the history of framing the Indo-Caribbean diaspora and its relationship with India. Then, the chapter posits how form, history, and language usage constellate a Qoolie poetics in the written poetry of Shivanee Ramlochan, Andre Bagoo, Faizal Deen, and Shani Mootoo, through the constitutive tropes of hauntings, reclamations, and fragmentations.

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