‘Encaged is an implicit charge against crooked power balances.’ – Dominique van Varsseveld, afterword

It’s the early seventies. In a neighborhood of Paramaribo, the Hindustani, Javanese, Muslim, and Creole communities live side by side. But to what extent are they living together? Isn’t every community contained in their own group, their own ‘cage’? When a town official is murdered, the neighborhood becomes the backdrop of a large-scale uprising. We follow Nohar, Roebia and Raymond in their plight to resist the postcolonial government.

Encaged is a gripping novel and interesting addition to contemporary conversations on identity, in which Bea Vianen portrays the diversity of Surinamese society with verve.