Ruben S Gowricharn - New Perspectives on the Indian Diaspora

This book critically examines new perspectives on the transformations in the Indian diaspora. It studies the changing perspectives on the historical background of the diaspora and analyses fresh and emerging views in response to new configurations in diaspora relations. The volume highlights the transformation of the old Indian diaspora into a new ensemble in which economic, ideological and cultural forces predominate and interact closely. It looks at various themes including Indian indentured emigration to sugar colonies, comparisons between labour migration from India and China, the Girmitiya diaspora, the Indian diaspora in Africa and the rise of racial nationalism, Indias soft power in the Gulf region, and the repurposing of the Hindutva idea of India for Western societies as undertaken by diaspora communities.

Lucid and topical, this book will be useful for scholars and researchers of diaspora studies, migration studies, political studies, international relations, globalisation, political sociology, sociology and South Asia studies.

Ruben Gowricharn is Professor of Indian Diaspora Studies at the VU University in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He has published extensively on diasporas, democracy and the integration of ethnic minorities. He has edited several books including Shifting Transnational Bonding in Indian Diaspora (2020) and Political Integration in Indian Diaspora Societies (2020) and is the author of Multiple Homemaking: The Ethnic Condition in Indian Diaspora Societies (2020). He is also the managing director of a doctoral programme for adult migrant students in the Netherlands and Suriname.

First published 2022
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2022 selection and editorial matter, Ruben Gowricharn; individual chapters, the contributors

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Gowricharn, Ruben S., 1952- editor.
Title: New perspectives on the Indian diaspora / edited by Ruben Gowricharn.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index. |

Summary: This book critically examines new perspectives on the transformations in Indian diaspora. It studies the changing perspectives on the historical background of the Indian diaspora and analyses fresh and emerging views in response to new configurations in diaspora relations. The volume highlights the transformation of the old Indian diaspora into a new ensemble in which economic, ideological and cultural forces predominate and interact closely. It looks at various themes including Indian indentured emigration to sugar colonies, comparisons between labour migration from India and China, the Girmitiya diaspora, Indian diaspora in Africa and the rise of racial nationalism, Indias soft power in the Gulf region, and the repurposing of the Hindutva idea of India for Western societies, undertaken by diaspora communities. Lucid and topical, this book will be useful for scholars and researchers of diaspora studies, migration studies, political studies, international relations, globalisation, political sociology, sociology and South Asia studies-- Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021004576 (print) | LCCN 2021004577 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367147921 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032042367 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003191063 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: East Indian diaspora. | East Indians--Foreign countries. | Transnationalism.

Classification: LCC DS432.5 .N47 2021 (print) | LCC DS432.5 (ebook) | DDC 909/.04914--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021004576
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021004577

ISBN: 978-0-367-14792-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-04236-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-19106-3 (ebk)

Typeset in Sabon
by SPi Global, India

Aparajita Biswas is a professor at the Centre for African Studies of Mumbai University where she has taught for the past 30 years and demonstrated a continued commitment to promoting African Studies in India. In her long and eventful academic career, she has supervised 15 PhD works, authored several books and contributed more than 200 articles to prestigious national and international journals on Africa. She is the editor of the African Review Journal published by Routledge and is an editorial board member of reputed Indian and international journals. Her major research interest is on IndiaAfrica relations, Africa and the Indian Ocean, Africas international relations, human rights issues in Africa, and the Indian Diaspora in Africa. She has been invited by numerous institutions and universities across the world to share her views on African issues and, specially, on IndiaAfrica relations. She has also served as Visiting Professor at various universities in Asia, Africa and Europe. Her latest book is IndiaAfrica Partnership: A Vision for the Future (jointly edited with Ajay Dubey). Her other books are IndiaAfrica Enduring Partnership (2013), Indias Relations with East African Countries (2012) (jointly edited with Makumi Mwiguru), Post-Apartheid South Africa's Relations with the Neighboring Countries (2007), and IndiaKenya Relations (2000).

Ashwin Desai is Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. His research interests include sport, political economy and social policy. His latest work includes a study of football and community in Wentworth: The Beautiful Game and the Making of Place (2020). He co-authored Class, Colour and Community: The Natal Indian Congress and the Struggle to Defeat Apartheid, 19711994 (2021).

N. Jayaram is with the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, India. He was Visiting Professor of Indian Studies at the University of the West Indies, Trinidad. He has published widely on the Indian diaspora, especially on Indo-Trinidadians.

Nitasha Kaul is an academic, novelist and poet. She has held multidisciplinary teaching posts at various international universities and is currently Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations at the University of Westminster, London, UK. Over the last two decades, her work has spanned questions of identity, democracy, political economy, social/feminist/postcolonial theory, Hindu nationalism, Kashmir and Bhutan.

Brij V. Lal is Emeritus Professor of History at the Australian National University and Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland. He has written widely on the history and culture of the Indian indentured diaspora, including Girmitiyas: The Origins of the Fiji Indians