The Migrant Priests of the Tamil Diaspora Hindu Temples: Caste, Profiles, Circulations and Agency of Transnational Religious Actors

Networks do not float freely: (Dis)entangling the politics of Tamil diaspora inclusion in development governance

“…Scholarship has tended to focus on formal policies, for example the extension of voting rights, special visa programmes or the creation of diaspora engagement institutions by home states. Indeed, most of this literature suggests that diaspora engagement politics are firmly embedded in relations between the diaspora and its home state (Gamlen et al., 2013; Koinova & Tsourapas, 2018; Kuschminder & Siegel, 2011; Mylonas, 2013; Tsourapas, 2018, 2020), and that states ‘govern’ or manage their diaspora according to national interests. Differing reasons have been given to explain why states might have an interest in ‘engaging’ their diaspora populations.…”

“…Of course, Canada was also a preferred destination for Tamils based on their familiarity with the English language. Despite a large proportion of Tamils settling in Canada as political refugees in the late 1980s and early 1990s, today the Tamil diaspora in Canada is very heterogeneous, in terms of immigrant generation, religion, caste, and class (Gunasingam, 2014; for discussions of the relevance of caste in the Tamil diaspora see Paramsothy, 2018; Troulliet, 2020). Perhaps the most central cleavage amongst diaspora Tamils in Toronto, but also globally, is found in their position towards homeland politics.…”