Title: India and Her Diaspora in the South Pacific
Abstract: Adesh Pal, et.al. (eds), and Her Diaspora in the South Pacific (New Delhi, Creative Books, 2013), Pages: xvii+295, Price: Rs. 795.00.One of the remarkable developments in social sciences has been the emergence of diaspora studies. Diaspora is a global phenomenon and in an interconnected globalised world, it has become significant in terms of sharing cultural spaces, economic ideas and national narratives. The Diaspora's history has been among the most diverse and complex of migration histories. Indians have established communities on every continent as well as on islands in the Caribbean and the Pacific and oceans. The Diaspora story has focused primarily on the US and Europe. However, the study is incomplete without taking into account the Diaspora linkages to other places like the South book, and Her Diaspora in the South Pacific is remarkable in this regard, as it extensively covers the diaspora course in Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. It is an attempt to analyse the struggles and opportunities of the old and new diaspora in the South Pacific. The volume is a collection of essays presented at a three-day International Conference, India and her Diaspora in the South Pacific.The work has been divided into three parts. The first section brings out the story of the indenture system of the 19th century that led to Indians crossing the boundary to work as indentured labourers in Mauritius, Uganda, Surinam, Fiji, etc. From giving a general overview of the causes of migration, it covers the themes of struggle and suffering, occupations and opportunities, and the rise of the diaspora from misery to affluence. The essays bring out aspects of the host government's policies towards the Diaspora, the attitudes of the policy makers towards it, and the culture, communication and significance of media and films among the Diaspora community.Malay Mishra in the opening essay Indian Diaspora: Today's Thinking, Tomorrow's Need hypothesises on the social milieu and economic conditions that prompted thousands of Indians to emigrate to foreign lands. The article provides a picture of how the old diaspora experienced an inhuman system of transplantation of labour accompanied by misery, exploitation and suffering. Mishra contends that the new diaspora consists of more voluntary migration of engineers, doctors and management graduates to western countries along with a mass exodus of unskilled and semi-skilled workers to the Gulf States. He focuses on the need to make the diaspora an agent of development and a strategic asset that could be used for the benefit of as well as the host country.Greg Battye's essay comes with an interesting title Audio Visual Masala: Films as Virtual Diaspora. He argues that different forces serve as a cementing agent for the Diaspora spread worldwide. These forces range from food, religion, internet to television. Battye's narrative is gripping as he explains that movies and serials bring out various aspects of Diaspora to life. Bollywood masala movies have played a central role in negotiating the national identity. Until the 1980s, an expatriate was painted in a negative light. It was in the post-liberalisation era that the Non Resident (NRI) became the epitome of Indianness, and began to be seen as an instrument of India's reach and recognition in the outside world.Manmohini Kaul's chapter Indian Diaspora in the South Pacific: Politico Historical Perspective, talks about the diaspora in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. She states how certain policies of the host countries led to exclusion rather than assimilation. Australia followed a white immigration policy between 1950 and 1970. As relations between and Australia improved, the country became more responsive towards migrants. However, the post-9/11 period has witnessed cases of alleged harassment of students and suspicion towards Asians (p. …
Publication Year: 2014
Publication Date: 2014-07-01
Language: en
Type: article
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