Semester : IV Course Instructor: Ajaya Kumar Sahoo Course Number : SD-501 Title of the Course: Core/ Optional : Optional No. of Credits : 4 (Four) Migration, Diaspora and Transnationalism
Course Description: One of the most striking features in the age of globalization is the transnational movement of people across the national boundaries. Although Indian emigration goes way back to the ancient and medieval periods, large scale emigration of Indians took place during the 19th and 20th centuries to the British, French, and Dutch colonies. Today, Indians have formed extensive networks with the members of their community—familial, economic, and political—around the globe, including the motherland, India. The Indian diaspora is currently estimated to be more than twenty million. What gives Indians their common identity in the diaspora is their Indian origin, the consciousness of their cultural heritage and their deep attachment to India. The aim of this interdisciplinary course is to introduce students to the study of international migration, diaspora and transnationalism in the contemporary context. The focus will be on theories and methods of international migration and diaspora, and the issues of race, ethnicity, religion, caste, gender, media and transnationalism of Indian diaspora.
Course Objectives:
To enable the student to understand the historical background of international migration.
To understand the linkage between international migration, diaspora and transnationalism. To enable students to understand the contemporary migration patterns as a result of globalization. To establish how immigration, diaspora and transnationalism studied in the context of Indian diaspora. Course Learning Outcomes:
This course enables the students to explain the theoretical backgrounds of international migration, race, and ethnicity (cognitive level: understand). This course enables the students to identify the sources of literature on Indian diaspora, review them and apply to their research topic (cognitive level: understand and apply). This course enables the student to fully understand various policies of the government evolved for the Indian diaspora and how one can understand the linkages and networks that take place between homeland and the hostland (cognitive level: understand and apply). Explain and compare global diaspora literature with that of Indian diaspora literature (cognitive level: understand). Discuss various issues of identity of Indians in the diaspora and how they negotiate that identity in their everyday life (cognitive level: understand). Course outline:
The course is divided into six units.
Unit-I: International Migrations History of International Migration Theories of International Migrations Ethnicity and Gender in International Migrations Unit- II: Sociology of Diaspora Definitions and Theories of Diaspora Major Diasporas: Jewish, British, African, Chinese and other Diasporas Globalisation and Diaspora Unit – III: The Indian Diaspora: A Survey The Indian Diaspora in South East Asia The Indian Diaspora in Africa and the Caribbean The Indian Diaspora in North America, Europe and Australasia Unit – IV: Issues of Identity in the Indian Diaspora Religion and Caste Language and Culture Institutions and Associations Unit – V: Indian Diaspora and Transnationalism Definitions and Theories of Transnationalism Indian Diaspora and Transnationalism Unit-VI: Indian Diaspora and Policy Perspective Diaspora Policy - Sending Country’s Perspective Diaspora Policy - Receiving Country’s Perspective
Select Chapters from Readings:
Stephen Castles and Mark J. Miller. 1998. The Age of Migration: International Populations Movements in the Modern World. London: Macmillan. [Introduction] Richards, Eric. 2007. “The British Diaspora in Wide-angle”. In: Ajaya Kumar Sahoo and Brij Maharaj (eds.), Sociology of Diaspora: A Reader, pp. 363-377. New Delhi: Rawat Publications. Cohen, Robin 1997. Global Diaspora: An Introduction. London: UCL Press. [Introduction ] Eleonore Kofman, Annie Phizacklea, Parvati Raghuram, Rosemary Sales. 2000. Gender and International Migration in Europe: Employment, Welfare and Politics. London: Routledge. [Introduction] Vertovec, Steven and Robin Cohen (eds.). 1999. Migration, Diaspora and Transnationalism. London: Edward Elgar. [Introduction] Clarke, Colin, Ceri Peach and Steven Vertovec (eds.). 1990. South Asian Overseas: Migration and Ethnicity. Cambridge University press: Cambridge. [Introduction] Lal, Brij V., Peter Reeves and Rajesh Rai (eds.). 2007. The Encyclopedia of the Indian Diaspora. Singapore: Editions Didier Millet [Selected chapters will be suggested during the lecture] Laxmi Narayan, K. 2005. Global Indian Diaspora: An Overview. Occasional Paper-1, Department of Sociology, University of Hyderabad. Parekh, Bhikhu, Gurhapal Singh and Steven Vertovec (eds.). 2003. Culture and Economy in the Indian Diaspora. London: Routledge. [Introduction] Raghuram, Parvati, Ajaya Kumar Sahoo, Brij Maharaj and Dave Sangha (eds.). 2008. Tracing an Indian Diaspora: Contexts, Memories, Representations. New Delhi: Sage Publications. [Introduction] Bhat, C.S. 2006. “Continuity and Change in the Perception of ‘Indianness’: Issues of Identity among the Indians and the Indian Diaspora”. In: Martina-Ghosh Schellhorn (ed.), Peripheral Centres, Central Peripheries: Anglophone India and its Diaspora, pp.243-250. Berlin: LIT Verlag. Bhatia, Sunil. 2007. American Karma: Race, Culture, and Identity in the Indian Diaspora. New York: New York University Press. [Introduction] Maira, Sunaina. 2002. Desis in the House: Indian American Youth Culture in New York City. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Puwar, N. and Raghuram, P. (eds.). 2003. South Asian Women in the Diaspora. Oxford: Berg. [Introduction] Rayaprol, Aparna. 1997. Negotiating Identities: Women in the Indian Diaspora. New Delhi: Oxford. Al-Ail, Nadje and Khalid Koser (eds). 2002. New Approaches to Migration: Transnational Communities and the Transformation of Home. London: Routledge. Koshy, Susan and R. Radhakrishnan (eds.). 2008. Transnational South Asians: The Making of a Neo-Diaspora. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. [Introduction] Nina Glick Schiller. 2007. “The Centrality of Ethnography in the Study of Transnational Migration”. In: Ajaya Kumar Sahoo and Brij Maharaj (eds.), Sociology of Diaspora: A Reader, pp. 118-155. New Delhi: Rawat Publications. Safran, William, Ajaya Kumar Sahoo and Brij V. Lal (eds.). 2008. Transnational Migrations: The Indian Diaspora. New Delhi: Routledge Publications. [Chapter1,3,5] Sahoo, Ajaya Kumar & J. G. Hans, eds. 2014. Indian Transnationalism Online: New Perspectives on Diaspora. London: Ashgate. Lal, Marie C. 2001. India’s Missed Opportunity: India’s Relationship with the Non Resident Indians. Aldershot: Ashgate. Khadria, Binod. 1999. The Migration of Knowledge Workers: Second-generation Effects of India’s Brain Drain. New Delhi: Sage Publications. Kuznetsov, Yevgeny and Charles Sabel. 2006. “International Migration of Talent, Diaspora Networks, and Development: Overview of Main Issues”. In: Y. Kuznetsov (ed), Diaspora Networks and the International Migration of Skills - How Countries Can Draw on their Talent Abroad. The World Bank: Washington DC. Ministry of External Affairs. 2001. Report of the High Level Committee on Indian Diaspora. New Delhi: Indian Council of World Affairs. [Selected chapters will be suggested during the lecture]
Select Articles from Journals for readings:
Daniel Boyarin and Jonathan Boyarin. 1993. “Diaspora: Generation and the Ground of Jewish Identity”. Critical Inquiry, Vol. 19 (4): 693-725. Appadurai, Arjun. 1990. “Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy”. Theory Culture Society, Vol. 7, 295-310. Palmer, Colin A. 2000. “Defining and Studying the Modern African Diaspora”. The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 85, No. 1/2: 27-32. Reis, Michele. 2004. “Theorizing Diaspora: Perspectives on ‘Classical’ and ‘Contemporary’ Diaspora”. International Migration, Vol. 42 (2): 41-56. Schnapper, Dominique. 1999. “From Nation States to the Transnational World: On the Meaning and Usefulness of Diaspora as a Concept”. Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, Vol. 8 (3): 225-54. Vertovec, Steven. 1997. “Three Meanings of Diaspora: Exemplified among South Asian Religions”. Diaspora, Vol. 6 (3): 277-330. Willmott, William E. 1969. “The Overseas Chinese: Today and Tomorrow”. Pacific Affairs, Vol. 42, No. 2: 206-214. Bunnell, T., Nagarajan, S., and Willford, A. 2010. ‘From the Margins to Centre Stage: ‘Indian’ Demonstration Effects in Malaysia’s Political Landscape’. Urban Studies, 47 (6): 1257- 1278. Jain, R.K. 1997. “Civilizational Theory of Indian Diaspora and its Global Implication”. The Eastern Anthropologist, Vol. 50 (3-4): 347-355. Chattopadhyay, Rohitashya. 2003. “The Internet and Postcolonial Development: India's Transnational Reality”. Contemporary South Asia, Vol. 12 (1): 25-40. Vertovec, Steven. 2001. “Transnationalism and identity”. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Vol. 27 (4): 573-582. Voigt-Graf, C. 2004 “Towards a Geography of Transnational Spaces: Indian Transnational Communities in Australia”. Global Networks, Vol. 4 (1): 25-49. Grare, Fredric and Amitabh Mattoo (eds.). 2003. Beyond the Rhetoric: The Economics of India’s Look East Policy, Vol. 2. New Delhi: Manohar.
