India and South Africa are strongly bonded to each other not just as member nations of BRICS1 that confirms their status as prominently upcoming and emerging markets of the contemporary world, but also as associates of a mutually shared and entangled history from colonial times. The migration of the Indian Diaspora to South Africa from 1860 onwards, its eventual struggle for dignity against racial discrimination and participation in the national liberation movement have been a matter of pride to India in the past. But it is little known that the people of Indian origin have also organized themselves for community welfare and more recently organized themselves in Heritage Movements (HMs) to raise issues important for them socially as well as symbolically in the their past and contemporary history. How do they relate to India through them and what do they think of India? While bilateral economic ties between today’s South Africa and India dominate the spheres of political imagination, interestingly, we see that over the years, the Indian foreign policy is undergoing a ‘Diaspora moment’ in various aspects. This paper, therefore, attempts to understand the Diaspora more closely under this background of mutual relations and shifts the focus to the collective action of the common Indian South Africans (ISAs) on ground and to their imagination of India and Indianness. We will use examples from social movements (SMs) of the ISAs as an analytical template for seeing the extent to which Diaspora can be used as a conceptual tool in understanding the changing meaning of Indianness in South Africa and conversely what message does it hold for India? Relevant instances of the politics of community selfhelp and HMs among the Durban/KwaZulu-Natal Indians in South Africa will be analysed and official opinions on Diaspora (etic views) will be juxtaposed with voices of these actors from the field (emic views). Observing the narratives of the SMs of the ISAs closely, we gain an insight into the following facts that can become an important input in sensitizing India’s foreign policy with reference to its historic Diaspora in South Africa: firstly, its ongoing need, even in the post-apartheid era, for gaining contextual legitimacy and space in the process of nation building in the new South Africa. Secondly, though the ISAs are proud of their historical ties and cultural legacies with India, their position and identity within the broader political system of South Africa goes beyond their imagined ‘Indianness’. Thirdly, while their role in collective socio-cultural and political engagements make them a credible and vibrant Diaspora of which India can be proud of, nonetheless, the actors in the field emphasize that only when seen as indispensable asset of South Africa can they open up and build their mutual relations with India to newer heights.
Often referred to as the custodians of nature, the Bishnois have been taking initiatives to curb the illegal hunting/poaching of animals such as the blackbuck and the chinkara that are fully covered under the provisions of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act (WLPA, 1972). From within the realms of their philosophical engagement with nature, the Bishnois imagine the law offenders from hunting communities, such as Ban Bawri and Bhil, and those who come to be defined exclusively as poachers as the ‘violent’ other. While the hunting tribes heavily contest such a viewpoint, the contours of a grass-roots debate as well as Bishnoi activism against destruction of natural resources continue to fortify in western Rajasthan. The growth of an organised protest movement of the Bishnois, spearheaded by the Bishnoi Tiger Force (BTF), since the past two decades has also coincided with an embodiment of the community’s general preparedness to die in defence of the wildlife. What fuels the spirit and the sentiment behind this rising defence of the endangered wildlife, amidst other creatures of the desert? How do Bishnoi repertoires of protest influence the discourses of other involved communities and manage to keep the democracy of India on constant alertness in the great Indian Thar?
This work aims to explore and problematize India's discourses on its Diaspora policy vis-à-vis the reflections and experiences of actors on the ground. Historically, the Indian state has been known to project a founding and pioneering discourse on Diaspora closely connected and inter-twined with its foreign policy. Nonetheless, in its international outlook just as India continues to change and evolve over time, so do its Diaspora discourses and practices as per the needs of its foreign policy. From being distantly neutral and adopting diplomatic routes of concern for Indian origin people abroad during its early post-Independence outlook, India's Diaspora policies have turned volte-face by shifting to the foreground of its global profiling in more recent times. Three important agents responsible for this role reversal are represented by the forces of globalisation, transnational geopolitics and Diasporization, acting in tandem with each other. Referring to these three as the, 'International Triad', (a term I employ as a heuristic tool), I undertake a qualitative analysis through review of literature, primary data including newspapers and ethnographic interviews conducted by me. It is clear that in its pro-active positioning and emerging Diaspora relations, India is no different from many other countries. Conversely, Indian Diasporas too have come a long way, emerging as not only key drivers in development efforts but also in strengthening bilateral ties between host and home nations as other diasporas do. No longer bereft of voice and rights, as much as in previous political contexts, the PIO and Diaspora communities stand on firmer ground while interacting with their home countries and ancestral homelands. However some vulnerabilities and status
When Nepal's poverty and patriarchy extended their political chemistry to the ideas and the ideal of development and progress, it could not have been foreseen that social, economic political profile of migrants would entail, not only issues regarding the movement of workers between the two countries, income and remittances but also involvement in petty crimes, child labour and unregistered employment. India has been a traditional hot spot for Nepalese migrants since the past century. Detailed studies of the migration pattern between India and Nepal reveal that a new peculiar category of migrants has of late come into being in big cities adding outside of traditional migration destinations such as Bihar and West Bengal. Through this paper I aim to examine the changing dynamics of migration between India and Nepal by working among three kinds of migrants in Delhi, namely, cooks and/or waiters in restaurants or roadside eating joints, night-watchmen, domestic helps and tailors. On the basis my findings, I refer to them as ‘itinerant migrants’ in order to situate their particular migration model. These migrants ‘on the go’ not only traverse freely through the symbolic realms of friendship between the two countries, but reside with a dual existential focus upon their lives. These actors have achieved a monetary and emotional satisfaction for themselves even at the cost of working informally without rights. My work takes the stand that although the itinerant migrants remain silently entrenched in the anonymous underbelly of development and international relations, yet they are not entirely invisible. Those who deal with them, employ them, trust or remain distant with them are fully aware of their existence and status. Traversing the space created by a partnership between the loopholes of bilateral relations on the one hand and changing migration patterns on the other, these iterant travelers throw open grey zones of existence worth debating. Out of these, day to day exploitation, drugs and unregistered existences amidst a fraternal ethos of solidarity are some of the issues that this paper identifies and proposes for further research.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.