Lecture 17 - South Asian Diaspora: Empire, Migration, and Belonging

Diaspora and Migration

• dispersion or spread of people from homeland

  • what is ‘original homeland’? ‘when?

• SA diaspora is largest global diaspora

  • more than 25 million people, over 5 million in the UK

  • 7.5% of the UK population

• reductionist to think of diaspora as only a migration

  • empire, labour, race, identity, gender, belonging, et.c

• empire, partition, migration, race, etc.

Challenging assumptions

• migration is not something new or post-modern

• migration is not an unusual activity

• since very early modern times, South Asia has had a very movile society for centuries

Empire and Early Migration

• from 19thC onwards, colonial rule created vast labour migration networks

• indentured labourers, soldiers, traders, etc

• ‘Indians’ had been present in Britain since at least the 17thC

  • servants, ayahs, sailors in port cities

• travelling throughout the British Empire

  • 1830s, recruited indentured labourers to work in the Caribbean, Fiji, East Africa, etc.

  • 1.6 million workers transplanted to colonies

Partition and the Trauma of Nation-Making

• 1947 Partition of Indian Subcontinent

• triggered one of the largest migrations in history

  • displaced 12-15 million people, caused 1 million deaths

• Punjab and Bengal were divided

  • majority of British South Asians trace their origins to this region

• nationality and identity stretched across new borders

  • political rupture and historical trauma

Postwar Migration to Britain

• largescale migration began post-World War II

  • severe labour shortages in Britain, invited workers

  • primarily Punjabi, Sylhet, Gujarati, East Africa

• early migrants worked in factories, textile mills, foundries, public transport, NHS, army

• Punjabi migrants worked in manufacturing, textiles and service sectors -> Heathrow airport

• Bengali migrants in manufacturing, textiles, service sectors, large numbers behan pening Indian restaurants

Grunwick Dispute

• industrial dispute, 2-year strike from 1976-1978

• Grunwick Film Processing Laboratories

• dismissal of Devshi Bhudia for working too slowly, 3 others walked out in support

• many migrant women workers, Indian from East Africa

  • considered docile, hardworking, sought out

• unwilling to accept degrading treatment

• government and trade union grew nervous over support of strike, police came to demonstrations

• ended in defeat for the strikers

  • still some wins according to Jayaten Desui

• alludes to role of trade unions and left-wing political parties have in shaping British South Asian community

Race, Racism and Citizenship

• debates and fear about wider citizenship

• 1950s-1970s, anti-immigrant agenda

• 1962 Commonwealth Immigrants Act restricted migration from former colonies

• 1968 Enoch Powell gave ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech

  • compared legislation protecting immigrants to ‘throwing a match to gunpowder’

  • estimated that by 2000, 10% of population would be of immigrant descent

  • sacked from shadow government

• migrants faced issues

  • housing discrimination, workplace racism, violence from far-right groups, restrictions

• Tariq Modood argues that British multiculturalism emerged in response to these tensions

• new forms of political solidarity -> British Asians

Identity, Youth, and Masculinity

• 1980s and 1990s a crucial moment for new identity formation

• how young men navigate racial stereotypes, masculinity, belonging in urban Britain

• youth culture, music, fashion, street culture etc.

• Benjamin Zeitlyn -> diaspora changes across generations

South Asians in Politics

• Rishi Sunak, Shabana Mahmood, Priti Patel, etc.

• does representation in elite politics improve the lives of minority communities?

  • success of multicultural Britain?

  • representation alone does not solve structural inequalities

  • racism, economic and class inequality, Islamophobia, etc.

• diaspora communities sometimes support conservative or right-leaning political movements

  • political prominence and broader voting patterns

• Suella Braverman Reform party, Rishi Sunak conservatives

• combination of factors -> migrations histories, class mobility, religious identity, generational change, etc.

• why are these people attracted to conservatism?

  • family values and moral conservatism

  • religion and diasporic identities

  • politics of minority success -> not collective advancement

  • generational change and political diversity