Tracing an Indian diaspora: Contexts, memories, representations

Abstract

The concept of diaspora has been much debated during the past decade in terms of the essential and additional features that go with it, arguing which groups or communities could beuld not be designated as diaspora. The Indian diaspora today, with a strong community constituting more than 20 million and spreading across a hundred countries, continues to grow in size and making its transnational presence felt. This collection of essays traces some of the plurality with the Indian context as well as in the context of globalization, and transnationalism. The book discusses the migratory movements that have led to the formation of the Indian diaspora and formation to diasporic practices-the ways and means of remembering and enacting diasporic belonging and the sites and spaces where such narratives of belonging are performed and how these issues are played out through texts, and rituals such as pilgrimages and building temples.