Sylvia Wynter's Dream

My Paternal Grandparents

I had a conversation with my dad in the form of an interview, learning more about what my paternal grandparents were like, their origin, their background and how they were perceived by other people. This interview took place in the living room of our house at 11 am.

Transcription of Interview, 5-minute excerpt (00:00 – 05:05)

Miska (Interviewer): Hello, good morning. This is Miska. I’ll be having a sit-down interview with my dad, we’ll be talking about my paternal grandparents under my research topic of “Grandparents Defining Cultural Identity.”

Talk

Joe (Guest Interviewee): What?

I-introduce yuhself

Oh um my name is Joseph Gangadeen. I am Miska’s father.

Can you tell me a little bit about my paternal grandparents, where were they born?

Um – my father was born in Jamaica. I think he was in Mount Regale in St. Mary – um – his wife I don’t remember much about her because he never used to talk a lot about her. But she was Jamaican.

Um can you tell me a little bit about what they were like when they were alive?

As I say I don’t know much about the grandmother but um my father was a jeweler, mainly making silver jewelry and he used to ride a bicycle around Vere in the early years where most of his customers were. Later on he mainly worked in Kingston making j – silver jewelry and supplying bangles to the free port jewelry stores in Montego Bay where they would sell to tourists.

And I remember you said that you used to live in this house with my paternal grandmother, Lillian, your mother…

Yes

So what was she like?

Well um she married young as far as what I’ve heard. They married uh when she was sixteen

Oh

And um she was a housewife until maybe in her thirties, her brother um made a jewelry workshop and she used to manage the – the workshop

Oh. Um, I remember you said before that my grandpa once travelled to India, can you tell me about that?

Well he told me he and his father went to India, I don’t remember which place they went to, but they took what he called a steamship that maybe took two weeks to reach India. They carried fifty-seven gold Guineas and um in those days they didn’t have suitcases. What he said they used was a metal thing a metal case like that they call a trunk

Mhm

Um they spent two years over there. They bought land for their relatives, and they came back to Jamaica with I think fifteen gold Guineas

Oh. I remember yuh seh um. I mean, have anyone ever identified has anyone ever identified my paternal grandparents as someone other than Jamaican?

I don’t think so. I don’t really – heard – remember hearing of them saying that.

Oh um I remember like there was some confusion about what you said like my grandma was like when you said she was probably from Ireland or Chinese

No people used to say she look like from a different country

Yeah

Just because of her appearance, she was fair with black hair

Yeah, so um there was o – um some speculation either she was from Ireland, then I heard that she was probably Chinese then Mexican or some other identity but she was Indian

Yeah, she was mainly Indian but there was some Chinese mixed in – so – you know, that’s why there was talk of different – nationalities

Ethnicities, yeah. Did you know your grandparents?

No I didn’t know them, they died I guess when I was young

Oh. So I remember you once said that our last name Gangadeen is not the original surname

Well my father say at one time – um – when they were registering their names or so maybe it was Matadeen but – there is no papers to prove that

Oh