Impossible Citizens

Impossible Citizens PDF Author: Neha Vora
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 0822353938
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
Indian communities have existed in the Gulf emirate of Dubai for more than a century. Since the 1970s, workers from South Asia have flooded into the emirate, enabling Dubai's huge construction boom. They now compose its largest noncitizen population. Though many migrant families are middle-class and second-, third-, or even fourth-generation residents, Indians cannot become legal citizens of the United Arab Emirates. Instead, they are all classified as temporary guest workers. In Impossible Citizens, Neha Vora draws on her ethnographic research in Dubai's Indian-dominated downtown to explore how Indians live suspended in a state of permanent temporariness. While their legal status defines them as perpetual outsiders, Indians are integral to the Emirati nation-state and its economy. At the same time, Indians—even those who have established thriving diasporic neighborhoods in the emirate—disavow any interest in formally belonging to Dubai and instead consider India their home. Vora shows how these multiple and conflicting logics of citizenship and belonging contribute to new understandings of contemporary citizenship, migration, and national identity, ones that differ from liberal democratic models and that highlight how Indians, rather than Emiratis, are the quintessential—yet impossible—citizens of Dubai.

Impossible Citizens

Impossible Citizens PDF Author: Neha Vora
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 0822353938
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 259

Get Book Here

Book Description
Indian communities have existed in the Gulf emirate of Dubai for more than a century. Since the 1970s, workers from South Asia have flooded into the emirate, enabling Dubai's huge construction boom. They now compose its largest noncitizen population. Though many migrant families are middle-class and second-, third-, or even fourth-generation residents, Indians cannot become legal citizens of the United Arab Emirates. Instead, they are all classified as temporary guest workers. In Impossible Citizens, Neha Vora draws on her ethnographic research in Dubai's Indian-dominated downtown to explore how Indians live suspended in a state of permanent temporariness. While their legal status defines them as perpetual outsiders, Indians are integral to the Emirati nation-state and its economy. At the same time, Indians—even those who have established thriving diasporic neighborhoods in the emirate—disavow any interest in formally belonging to Dubai and instead consider India their home. Vora shows how these multiple and conflicting logics of citizenship and belonging contribute to new understandings of contemporary citizenship, migration, and national identity, ones that differ from liberal democratic models and that highlight how Indians, rather than Emiratis, are the quintessential—yet impossible—citizens of Dubai.

Global Indian Diasporas

Global Indian Diasporas PDF Author: Gijsbert Oonk
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
ISBN: 9053560351
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
Global Indian Diasporas discusses the relationship between South Asian emigrants and their homeland, the reproduction of Indian culture abroad, and the role of the Indian state in reconnecting emigrants to India. Focusing on the limits of the diaspora concept, rather than its possibilities, this volume presents new historical and anthropological research on South Asian emigrants worldwide. From a comparative perspective, examples of South Asian emigrants in Suriname, Mauritius, East Africa, Canada, and the United Kingdom are deployed in order to show that in each of these regions there are South Asian emigrants who do not fit into the Indian diaspora concept—raising questions about the effectiveness of the diaspora as an academic and sociological index, and presenting new and controversial insights in diaspora issues.

Aging and the Indian Diaspora

Aging and the Indian Diaspora PDF Author: Sarah E. Lamb
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253003601
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 363

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Book Description
The proliferation of old age homes and increasing numbers of elderly living alone are startling new phenomena in India. These trends are related to extensive overseas migration and the transnational dispersal of families. In this moving and insightful account, Sarah Lamb shows that older persons are innovative agents in the processes of social-cultural change. Lamb's study probes debates and cultural assumptions in both India and the United States regarding how best to age; the proper social-moral relationship among individuals, genders, families, the market, and the state; and ways of finding meaning in the human life course.

Transnational Migrations

Transnational Migrations PDF Author: William Safran
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317967704
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Book Description
This book studies Indian diaspora, currenlty 20 million across the world, from various perspectives. It looks at the 'transnational' nature of the middle class worker. Other aspects include: post 9/11 challenges; ethnicity in USA; cultural identity versus national identity; gender issues amongst the diaspora communities. It argues that Indian middle classes have the unique advantages of skills, mobility, cultural rootedness and ethics of hard-work.

Routledge Handbook of the Indian Diaspora

Routledge Handbook of the Indian Diaspora PDF Author: Radha Sarma Hegde
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317373561
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 833

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Book Description
The geographical diversity of the Indian diaspora has been shaped against the backdrop of the historical forces of colonialism, nationalism and neoliberal globalization. In each of these global moments, the demand for Indian workers has created the multiple global pathways of the Indian diasporas. The Routledge Handbook of the Indian Diaspora introduces readers to the contexts and histories that constitute the Indian diaspora. It brings together scholars from different parts of the globe, representing various disciplines, and covers extensive spatial and temporal terrain. Contributors draw from a variety of archives and intellectual perspectives in order to map the narratives of the Indian diaspora. The topics covered range from the history of diasporic communities, activism, identity, gender, politics, labour, policy, violence, performance, literature and branding. The handbook analyses a wide array of issues and debates and is organised in six parts: • Histories and trajectories • Diaspora and infrastructures • Cultural dynamics • Representation and identity • Politics of belonging • Networked subjectivities and transnationalism. Providing a comprehensive analysis of the diverse social, cultural and economic contexts that frame diasporic practices, this key reference work will reinvigorate discussions about the Indian diaspora, its global presence and trajectories. It will be an invaluable resource for academics, researchers and students interested in studying South Asia in general and the Indian diaspora in particular.

Social Movements and the Indian Diaspora

Social Movements and the Indian Diaspora PDF Author: Movindri Reddy
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317478975
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
With the elevation of Islam and Muslim transnational networks in international affairs, from the rise of Al Qaeda to the revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East, the study of Diasporas and transnational identities has become more relevant. Using case studies from Fiji, Mauritius, Trinidad and South Africa, this book explores the diaspora identities and impact of social movements on politics and nationalism among indentured Indian diaspora. It analyses the way in which diasporas are defined by themselves and others, and the types of social movements they participate in, showing how these are critical indicators of the threat they are perceived to pose. The book examines the notions of national and transnational identity, and how they are determined by the placement of Diasporas in the transnational locality. It argues that the transnationality intrinsic to diaspora identities mark them as others in the nation-state, and simultaneously separates them from the perceived motherland, thus displacing them from both states and situating them in a transnational locality. It is from this placement that social movements among Diasporas gain salience. As outsiders and insiders, they are well placed to offer a formidable challenge to the host state, but these challenges are limited by their hybrid identities and perceived divided loyalties. Providing an in-depth analysis of Indian Diasporas, the book will be of interest to those studying South Asian Studies, Migration and Diaspora Studies.

New Perspectives on the Indian Diaspora

New Perspectives on the Indian Diaspora PDF Author: Ruben Gowricharn
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000412571
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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Book Description
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, India’s 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.

The Indian Diaspora in Central Asia and Its Trade, 1550-1900

The Indian Diaspora in Central Asia and Its Trade, 1550-1900 PDF Author: Scott Cameron Levi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
Countering the commonly held notion that 17th-century Central Asia was economically isolated after the relative prosperity of the Mongol and Timurid Empires, Levi (Asian history, Eastern Illinois U.) argues that Indian merchants established a diaspora network of commercial communities across urban and rural Central Asia. Not limiting their exchange to the import-export trade, these merchants engaged in a variety of money-lending activities that placed them in a unique socio-economic position that allowed the mainly Hindu merchants to live for extended periods in Muslim countries. Furthermore, these merchants' associations with Indian family firms helped finance transregional trade, rural credit systems, and industrial production throughout Central Asia. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Shifting Transnational Bonding in Indian Diaspora

Shifting Transnational Bonding in Indian Diaspora PDF Author: Ruben Gowricharn
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000081346
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 205

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Book Description
This volume examines Indian diasporic communities in various countries including the United Kingdom, Trinidad, Portugal, Netherlands, and Fiji, among others, and presents new perspectives on the shifting nature of Indian transnationalism. The book: Discusses how migrant communities reinforce the diaspora and retain a group identity, while at the same time maintaining a bond with their homelands; Highlights new tendencies in the configuration of Indian transnationalism, especially cultural entanglements with the host countries and the differentiation of homelands; Studies forces affecting bonding among these communities such as global and local encounters, glocalisation, as well as economic, political, and cultural changes within the Indian state and the wider Indian diaspora. Featuring a diverse collection of essays rooted in robust fieldwork, this volume will be of great importance for students and researchers of diaspora studies, globalization and transnational migration, cultural studies, minority studies, sociology, political studies, international relations, and South Asian studies.

Indian Diaspora in the United States

Indian Diaspora in the United States PDF Author: Anjali Sahay
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 073913549X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
Indian Diaspora in the United States takes a new perspective on the topic of brain drain, departing from the traditional literature to include discussions on brain gain and brain circulation using Indian migration to the United States as a case study. Sahay acknowledges that host country policies create the necessary conditions for brain drain to take place, but argues that source countries may also benefit from out-migration of their workers and students. These benefits are measured as remittances, investments, and savings associated with return, and social networking that links expatriates with their country of origin. Through success and visibility in host societies, diaspora workers further influence economic and political benefits for their home countries. This type of brain gain becomes an element of soft power for the source country in the long term. Indian Diaspora in the United States is a ground-breaking work that intersects economic and political issues to the dimension of migration and the concerns over brain drain. With its rigorous, connectionist approach, this book is a valuable contribution to the fields of diaspora, labor, globalization, and Indian studies.