Home and Away: Diasporas, Developments and Displacements in a Globalising World

Abstract

This paper examines the involvement of Indian diasporic communities in the dynamics of economic development and population displacement within the Indian subcontinent itself. I argue that the category of diaspora can help to critically interrogate and challenge traditional notions of development and displacement and in doing so help to illuminate the complexities of such processes in the light of globalisation and transnationalism. I examine the historical context of diasporas and their involvement in processes of development and consider questions of identity, place, home and connection between people and the nation-state. I also look at the specific case of Indian diasporas and the impact they have had on the financial and cultural development of India in the recent past. While much of the current research on the connections between development and diasporas worldwide has focused on remittances, this paper argues for a wider understanding of both “diasporic capital” – including investments, property ownership and trade – and of “diasporic culture” – as demonstrated by globalised patterns of travel, tourism, communications, cultural production and the creation of living spaces with a self-consciously transnational aesthetic.

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