global south asians

Global South Asians

By the end of the twentieth century some nine million people of SouthAsian descent had left India, Bangladesh or Pakistan and settled indifferent parts of the world, forming a diverse and significant moderndiaspora. In the early nineteenth century, many left reluctantly to seekeconomic opportunities which were lacking at home. In later decadesothers left freely in anticipation of better lives and work. This is the storyof their often painful experiences in the diaspora, how they constructednew social communities overseas and how they maintained connectionswith the countries and the families they had left behind. It is a storycompellingly told by one of the premier historians of modern South Asia,Judith Brown, whose particular knowledge of the diaspora in Britain andSouth Africa gives her insight as a commentator. This is a book whichwill have a broad appeal to general readers as well as to students of SouthAsian and colonial history, migration studies and sociology.

judith m. brown is Beit Professor of Commonwealth History,University of Oxford, and Professorial Fellow of Balliol College. Herrecent publications include Gandhi: Prisoner of Hope (1989), and Nehru:A Political Life (2003).

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Cambridge University Press978-0-521-84456-7 - Global South Asians: Introducing the Modern DiasporaJudith M. BrownFrontmatterMore information

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New Approaches to Asian History

This dynamic new series will publish books on the milestones in Asian history,those that have come to define particular periods or mark turning-points in thepolitical, cultural and social evolution of the region. Books are intended as intro-ductions for students to be used in the classroom. They are written by scholars,whose credentials are well established in their particular fields and who have, inmany cases, taught the subject across a number of years.






Global South AsiansIntroducing the Modern Diaspora

Judith M. BrownBeit Professor of Commonwealth History,University of Oxford






cambridge university pressCambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo

Cambridge University PressThe Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK

Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.orgInformation on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521606301

C© Judith M. Brown 2006

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exceptionand to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,no reproduction of any part may take place withoutthe written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2006

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

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Contents

List of illustrations page viAcknowledgments viiGlossary ixMaps x

Introduction 1

1 Traditions of stability and movement 9

2 Making a modern diaspora 29

3 Creating new homes and communities 59

4 Relating to the new homeland 112

5 Relating to the old homeland 149

Conclusion 171

Bibliography 181Index 193

v






Illustrations

1. A former indentured labourer in Fiji and his wife,c. 1960Courtesy of Professor B. V. Lal 64

2. Indian workers on sugar plantations in Fiji, c. 1960Courtesy of Professor B. V. Lal 65

3. South Asian ‘corner shop’: OxfordAuthor’s photograph 70

4. South Asian shops in the ethnic enclave of Southall, WestLondonCourtesy of Peter J. Diggle 79

5. Methodist church, Cowley Road, Oxford, used byPunjabi-speaking congregationAuthor’s photograph 96

6. Preparing for fire-walking in Pietermaritzburg, NatalCourtesy of Dr A. Diesel 99

7. Devotee ready for fire-walking ceremony,Pietermaritzburg, NatalCourtesy of Dr A. Diesel 100

8. Building places of worship: Glen Cove Gurudwara, NY11542Courtesy of Rekha Inc. 104

9. Building places of worship: Sri Venkateswara Temple,Penn Hills, PA 15235Courtesy of Rekha Inc. 105

10. Building places of worship: new mosque, Cowley Road,OxfordAuthor’s photograph 106

vi






Acknowledgments

My first debt of gratitude incurred in this study of the South Asian dias-pora is to those members of the diaspora who have knowingly, and some-times unwittingly, contributed to my knowledge of their experience. Ihope I may have repaid that debt in some small way if some of my read-ers are enabled to understand the diversity of the diaspora and the myriadissues with which its peoples have grappled for over a century and a half.

Marigold Acland, Senior Commissioning Editor at Cambridge Uni-versity Press, first suggested that I might write this book, and encouragedme to engage formally with a topic which had interested me for decades,not just because of my work on South Asia itself, but because I usedto teach at Manchester University which is located in an area of highSouth Asian settlement, and where some of the issues discussed herewere a daily and present reality. To her and to Isabelle Dambricourt atCambridge University Press I offer my thanks for all their help in theproduction of this volume. Several colleagues in Oxford have been gen-erous in their time and advice, particularly Professors Steven Vertovecand Ceri Peach, and Professor Ian Talbot, now of Southampton Univer-sity, who spent a year as a Visiting Fellow at Balliol College and engagedin many discussions with me on the diaspora as well as latterly readingthe complete manuscript and making valuable suggestions. Nigel Jamesof the Bodleian Library’s map room was of invaluable help in the creationof maps. Stephanie Jenkins in the History Faculty was, as always, a fundof expertise and help in the process of producing a manuscript. Fromfurther afield I would like to thank publicly Professor Brij Lal, of theAustralian National University of Canberra, who generously permittedme to use photos of his grandparents and of Indians engaged in sugarcultivation in Fiji, and whose own work helped to open my eyes to thereality of the indenture experience; and Dr Alleyn Diesel, who once tookme on a tour of Hindu temples in Pietermaritzburg and has allowed me touse some of her exceptional photographs in this book. In the USA RekhaInc. found for me two important photographs and gave me permissionto use them here. Professor Renee C. Fox, Annenberg Professor Emerita

vii






viii Acknowledgments

of the Social Sciences at Pennsylvania University, and former visitingEastman Professor at Balliol, most generously read my manuscript fromthe perspective of an American readership and from within a disciplineother than my own, and I offer her my thanks for her encouragement inthis project, as in so much else.

Finally my thanks, as always, go to my husband, Peter Diggle. He readthe manuscript to ensure its accessibility and clarity, and helped me withphotographic expeditions. But far beyond any specific assistance with thisparticular book, his constant support, fidelity and love make possible myacademic work and my own global journeys.






Glossary

bhangra form of Punjabi musicdukawalla Indian trader in East Africafatwa formal opinion on a point of Islamic law by a

recognised Muslim authorityGurudwara Sikh place of worshiphalal meat butchered according to Islamic ruleshijab headscarf worn by Muslim womenHindutva ‘Hinduness’Imam leader of prayers at a mosquejati caste; often quite localised endogamous group cf.

varnaJihad Holy war (Muslim)kangani form of contract for labour in South East AsiaKashmiriyat the Kashmiri way of lifekosher food acceptable to orthodox Jewslascar Indian sailormadrassah Muslim secondary school or collegeMandir Hindu templepashmina fine shawlPir Sufi (Muslim) spiritual guidepuja act of worship (Hindu)purdah forms of female seclusion or the wearing of a veilraj rule; thus the British raj in Indiasalwar kameez Punjabi female dress of tunic and loose trouserssirdar Indian plantation overseer in context of indentured

labourvarna caste; one of the classical fourfold divisions of Hindu

societyyagna originally a central Hindu rite of sacrifice in the

Vedas; specifically in Trinidad it means a variety oflarge-scale, socio-religious observances

ix






Maps

Bihar

Punjab

Gujarat

United Provinces

of Agra & Oudh

Mad

ras

Map 1. India pre-1947, showing major areas from which emigrantswent into the diaspora before independence and partition of thesubcontinent

x






Maps xi

Sylhet

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SRI LANKA

PA K I S TA

N

Jullundur

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P u n j a b

TamilnaduK

erala

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Azad

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ir

Map 2. South Asian subcontinent post-1971, showing major areas fromwhich emigrants went into the diaspora






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xiv Maps

London

Luton

Coventry

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Manchester

Bradford Leeds

SCOTLAND

Map 5. Major locations of South Asian settlement in the UK (late twen-tieth century)






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