Publications

 

 

The Encyclopedia of the Indian Diaspora (2006)

Sixty-two academics – many based in the diaspora – contributed to the making of the Encyclopedia. Written in an accessible style, the volume is well-illustrated, with some 800 photographs and 140 maps. Thematic sections comprise about one-third of the Encyclopedia. These explore streams of Indian migration from “The Age of Merchants” to the contemporary “Age of Globalisation”, alongside chapters that deal with Indian leadership and the diaspora, key aspects of the people’s lives, and the rich literary works that they have written. The bulk of the volume is made up of detailed accounts of the formation and development of Indian diasporic communities in 44 country and region profiles spanning six continents.

 

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Aging and the Indian Diaspora: Cosmopolitan Families in India and Abroad (2009)

Author Sarah E. Lamb, an associate professor and chair of the Department of Anthropology at Brandeis University, examines the recent proliferation of old age homes and the increasing numbers of elderly living alone in India – a phenomenon related to extensive overseas migration and dispersion. In this account, Lamb illustrates how older persons are innovative agents and participants in social-cultural change and probes extant cultural assumptions about aging, social-moral relations amongst people, genders, families, the market and the state that exist in India and the United States.

 

 

 

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Leaving India: My Family’s Journey from Five Villages to Five Continents (2009)

In this mix of history, memoir and reportage, author Minal Hajratwala traces the roots of her Indian family by addressing questions that face every immigrant: Where do I come from? Why did we leave? What did we gain or lose? Starting at her great-grandfather’s flight from British India to Fiji, Hajratwala outlines how her ancestors slowly spread across five continents and nine countries over the course of the twentieth century. In this book, she also highlights the impact of historical moments like colonialism, Indian independence, apartheid and immigration policies shaped her family’s perspectives and lives. Born in San Francisco, Hajratwala has spent seven years travelling all over the world and interviewing around 75 members of her extended family. A poet and performer, she has also worked as an editor and reporter for eight years at the San Jose Mercury News.

 

Next >>

 

Forthcoming Publication

 

The Encyclopedia of the Sri Lanka Diaspora

The Sri Lanka diaspora has assumed increasing self-consciousness and importance with successive waves of out-migration from the Indian Ocean island to almost every continent over the last 200 years. Although the Sri Lanka diaspora of the 21st century is primarily a result of the past 30 years of conflict between the State and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, earlier generations of migration from the island during the colonial and early post-colonial period had existed prior to this conflict-induced displacement.

 

With well over a million people of Sri Lankan origin living outside South Asia, The Encyclopedia of the Sri Lanka Diaspora will be significant in documenting the diaspora-consciousness among immigrants and refugees from the island, and will be the first-ever comprehensive study of its kind.

The Encyclopedia aims to develop a comprehensive study of the Sri Lanka diaspora as transnational communities and their political, economic and cultural links with the homeland. It will provide a comprehensive analysis of socio-economic and political developments among the diaspora over time and in difference places, and will address core issues of demography, economy, politics, culture and future development. The Encyclopedia will focus on the relationship between culture and economy in the Sri Lanka diaspora in the context of globalisation, increased transnational culture flows and new communication technologies. In addition to the geographic mapping of the Sri Lanka diaspora in the various continents, thematic chapters may include topics on the Sri Lanka diaspora in relation to new information and communication technologies, ‘long distance nationalism’, citizenship, Sinhala, Tamil and Burger disapora identities, religion and the spread of Buddhism, and the Sri Lankan cultural impact.

 

The Encyclopedia will appeal to all those interested in transnational communities, migration, ethnicity and racial studies in South Asia. It will be along the lines of the highly successful Encyclopedia of the Indian Diaspora and the Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas, which were published in 2006 and 1998 respectively by Editions Didier Millet.