Anglo-Indians, Burghers and the Cultures Created In Between

Welcome to the Brown History Newsletter. If you’re enjoying this labor of love, please do consider becoming a paid subscriber. Your contribution would help pay the writers and illustrators and support this weekly publication.

If you like to submit a writing piece, please send me a pitch by email at brownhistory1947@gmail.com.

Don’t forget to check out our SHOP and our Podcast

When I was younger I’d describe my identity as mixed race, British and Indian. I’d be met with the response, so which side is Indian then? After scrambling to piece together a family tree I barely understood (ancestry DNA wasn’t a thing when I was 10), I usually end up admitting, “Actually, I’m not sure.”

For years, I couldn’t give a simple answer about my cultural background. Any small talk that included the inevitable “where are you from” either turned into an impossible attempt to condense centuries of colonial history into a thirty second explanation or ended with me simply saying, “I’m Indian.” There was no in between. The nuances of my identity disappeared because I was constantly trying to reduce it to an elevator pitch.