‘Breaking Silences’: An Interview with Jahajee Sisters

Abstract

Founded in 2007 and based in New York City, Jahajee Sisters has forged new ground in organizing and attempting to empower a multigenerational constituency of diasporic Indo-Caribbean women in ways that affect their social, political, and everyday lives. They describe themselves as a movement-building organization with a mission of “creating a safe and equitable society for all Indo-Caribbean women.” By building alliances with other organizations serving South Asian women in New York and utilizing the arts to foster leadership, community out reach, and political activism, they have emerged as an important site for considering contemporary forms of Indo-Caribbean feminisms.This interview was conducted with two members of the organization’s Steering Committee, Suzanne Persard and Simone Devi Jhingoor (both founding members of the organization) between February and March of 2012