Introduction

Fernando Henriquez came to the subject after having written on Family and Colour in Jamaica, drew heavily on the voluminous writings of the Anglo-Indian and similarly interdisciplinary polymath scholar and activist Cedric Dover, and came to the interesting conclusion that Anglo-Indians were 'amongst the most unfortunate of the children of Caliban'. In seeking to migrate to Britain Anglo-Indians also faced some of the same challenges as other diasporic South Asians, such as the East African South Asians forced to leave the land of the birth by the rise of anticolonial African ethnonationalism. The chapter presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book deals briefly with the origins of the group up to the official exclusion from East India Company service in 1791. It takes a more thematic approach to defining the boundaries, nature, and culture of the group during the early 20th century.