Dutch Spirits, East Indians, and Hindu deities in Guyana: contests over land

Abstract

In modern-day Guyana (formerly British Guiana) residents of the coastal region of the country are susceptible to other-than-human powers: the spirits of Dutch colonizers, who claim ownership over the land, especially in areas where sugar plantations once operated. Regarded as the “masters of the land,” or “boundary masters,” Dutch spirits demand offerings and the recognition of land rights from their human co-habitants. Through a description of rituals towards the land performed by members of a heterodox Hindu sect, the worship of the goddess Kali, this article addresses territorial sovereignty through the lens of lived and embodied practices of co-habitation between East Indians and Dutch spirits, giving special attention to the processes of establishing proprietary rights over the land through such acts as planting trees.