Dispositions and Destinations: Refugee Agency and “Mobility Capital” in the Bengal Diaspora, 1947–2007

Abstract

This study seeks to illuminate patterns of refugee settlement in the Bengali Muslim diaspora since 1947, which replicate global trends identified by Aristide Zolberg in new nation-states. Based on historical research and oral testimony gathered from over two hundred migrants in different settings in India, Bangladesh, and Britain, it suggests why some Muslims crossed borders after India's partition and others did not; why most moved only short distances within the delta; and why so many huddled in the shadow of the new national borders and so few traveled to the West. I uncover the subtle interplay between migrants' agency and structures of coercion, and between histories of mobility and of affect, in the shaping of migration choices, and explain how the recurrent patterns identified by Zolberg were produced in a regional context of critical but unexplored significance. The essay explores the impact of nation-state formation on older forms of mobility in the region, and the continuing interconnections between local micro-mobilities and regional, national, international, and trans-oceanic migrations. I suggest that the concept of “mobility capital” can help to explain not only patterns of migration, but also patterns of staying on. I conclude by questioning “cumulative causation theory,” which has inadvertently lent credence to fears that the developed countries of the West will be “swamped” by immigrants drawn from ever-expanding migratory networks based in the “third world.”

In‐Situ Displacement: Institutional Practices and the Making of the Hindu Other

“…It is thus hardly surprising that from 1947 to 1967, “between 12 and 13 million Hindus and Muslims crossed the border between East and West Bengal seeking to rebuild their lives in the ‘right’ nation” (Chatterji, 2013, p. 273) 3 . But, drawing far less attention are the many Hindus who remained in East Bengal/Pakistan and would come to embody the enemy within, since West Bengal and India, understood as Hindu majority regions, were understood as threats to the national sovereignty of Pakistan.…”

“…8 8 I do not offer a comparative analysis of in‐situ displacement in East Bengal/Pakistan but recognize the shared border and overlapping regional and global relations with West Bengal. For excellent discussions of similar themes in West Bengal see Chatterji (2012, 2013) and Roy (2016), for West Pakistan see Zamindar (2007), and for those living on the border see van Schendel (2001). …”

Relación entre movilidad internacional y prejuicio moderno de españoles hacia el colectivo inmigrante en España

“…Por su parte, el capital de movilidad relativo a las migraciones internacionales hace referencia a los recursos adquiridos por una persona durante su trayectoria vital, que indican la posibilidad de desplazamiento al exterior o su movilidad geográfica real o imaginaria anterior, y que facilitan a su vez la realización de viajes y estancias futuras al extranjero (Agulhon y Xavier de Brito, 2010;Allemand, 2004;Bredeloup, 2008;Chatterji, 2013;Erlich, 2012;Garneau 2006;Murphy-Lejeune, 2001).…”

Glossary

“…It was on the basis of this report that the Andaman Administration welcomed hundreds of refugee families on to the Islands, particularly in the years after 1949, when large-scale riots in the deltaic districts of East Pakistan forced a huge exodus of agrarian labouring families into refugee camps in West Bengal in central and eastern Indian states. 85 It was during this period that Ferrargunj district, including the former Ferrargunj settlement, went into the possession of the families from East Pakistan. The Local Born Association that had taken over the settlement on lease evidently moved elsewhere.…”