India and its Diaspora. Changing Research and Policy Paradigms

Abstract

In order to understand paradigms in migration research, one has to discern ›policy paradigms‹ on the one hand, and ›research paradigms‹ on the other. Often, research paradigms are manifestations of general policy paradigms, and the mutual linkage between both deserves attention.Since the 1980s, India’s diaspora relations have witnessed a major policy paradigm shift which we have dubbed as ›from the invisible diaspora to the diaspora empire‹ and ›from the traitor tune to a pride paradigm‹. This shift can be explained by two main factors. First, at a policy-related level, seminal changes in four policy sectors occurred, namely in the economic, foreign, cultural and home policies. Second, the modes of, and reasons for interaction between India and her diaspora changed with India’s economic growth and the success of the overseas Indian community. Mutual mistrust changed into mutual pride and an increase in the personal intertwinement of the Indian thought-leaders with the diaspora as well as institutionalised ways of interaction contributed to a tectonic shift in the relationship. The policy paradigm shift had implications for the Indian migration research agenda, affecting the institutional research set-up as well as the questions framed and the positions taken. Certain paradigms can be identified in all major research traditions in India, including research on the brain drain, migration and development, diaspora policies, ethnographic studies and temporary labour migration. The analysis is supplemented by a brief account of internal migration and related research.

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