Book Reviews

Merz, Barbara J, L. C. Chen and P. F. Geithner, eds. 2007, Diasporas and Development, Global Equity Initiative, Asia Center, Harvard University, pp.xvi+274.

This edited volume contains seven chapters in all. Apart from the preface, the

editors have provided an overview to the volume in the first chapter. The next

three chapters are issue-based thematic papers: Mark Sidel's paper focuses upon

the governmental responses to the phenomenon of charity by the diaspora

members and its implications for equity. David de Ferranti and Anthony J. Ody

have addressed the issue of equitable development in the context of remittances

and other kinds of financial flows by the diaspora to the countries of origin. And,

Devesh Kapur has dealt with the dark side of the phenomenon of diaspora giving

- its negative implications for equity; some diaspora groups creating charities

that mix philanthropic giving and relief work with militant and destructive

movements. There are four other chapters, each· one focusing on one particular

geographical region of the world: Adil Najam illustrates diaspora philanthropy

in Asia; M. 0. Okome ori Africa; Barbara J Merz, one of the editors of the volume,

on the Caribbean, and Manuel Orozco on Central America.

Primarily, the papers together have tried to further our understanding of the

promises and pitfalls 'llnderlying the diapora engagement in the countries of origin

and how this could contribute to bridging the distances between unequal societies

in a divided world. The editors have done a fine job of providing a very

comprehensive overview, with sections on the general concepts and definitions

of diaspora, philanthropy, equitable development, and role of the state, particularly

for the benefit of the uninitiated. This is complemented by specific explanations

of the financing and risks involved in diaspora engagement, and their regional

perspectives. In addition, they have also distilled the issues and challenges, and

elaborated upon relationships like those between diaspora and migration, and

gender and diaspora. In doing so, the editors are however focused entirely upon

the trends and the roadmap to future tendencies of diaspora giving and its impact

on global equity. This discussion could have been further enriched if the editors

DiasporaStudies 1,2(2008): 105-114 Organisation for Diaspora Initiatives, New Delhi

106 I Diaspora Studies I, 2 (2008): I 05-114

would have also highlighted the analytical complementarities arising from

particular linkages that exist, say for example, between migration as a flow and

diaspora as a stock.

Sidel's paper on the role of the state is a rich commentary on the typology of

the complying and non-complying states, ranging from the stereotype to the

supportive the rent-seeking state, the inquisitive state, the controlling or

restrictive state, etc. The paper also talks about various kinds of alliances between

diasporas, between diaspora and non-diaspora intermediaries, between the elite

and other actors. It ends with a comment on the possibilities and difficulties of

working with the governments for promoting equity through diaspora giving.

The paper by de Ferranti and Ody comments on the importance of remittances

vis-a-vis other kinds of financial transfers made by the expatriates to their home

countries. It raises very pertinent questions about end-use of these transfers for

equitable development in the countries of origin-an issue normally swamped by

the discourse around the quantum of the remittances. The authors explore

innovations in financial transfers which need not be typical individual-to­

individual transactions, and raise important policy issues for countries receiving

the transfers. As regards who are the migrants remitting money home and who

are the family members receiving those transfers - spouses, children, siblings,

grandparents, other relatives, and friends - and how poor or rich they are, how

educated and elitist they are, the paper provides interesting insights drawn from

examples from Latin American and Mexican diasporas. It is refreshing to find

the authors distinguishing between the impact of remittances on poverty-reduction,

which is more universal, and inequality-reduction, which they found more varied.

Overall, the authors find remittances as a silver-lining for countries that have

experienced significant outward migration.

In sharp contrast, Kapur's paper highlights the other side of the financial flows

from the diaspora: feeding into the militant and extremist activities by disgruntled

and disruptive forces in the countries of origin. It cites examples of such 'long­

distance nationalism' from India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. The author

thus has tried to put some brakes on an all-virtuous bandwagon of diaspora

philanthropy.

The remaining four chapters provide comparative insights into the incidences

of diaspora philanthropy from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and Central America.

Najam has provided interesting comparisons between the Indian, Chinese, and

Book Reviews I I 07

the Pakistani diaspora behaviours of giving and has tried to draw lessons in terms

of trust and distrust in individual and institutional transfers of diaspora resources

and how these are driven by the needs of establishing an identity in the home

country. Okome's paper addresses the issue in the African context, wherein the

advances of globalization remain out of reach in most countries. What is striking

is that the African diaspora communities are more concerned about the well­

being of the communities than the individual kith and kin of the diaspora members.

The paper provides distribution of the African diasporas by regions of origin -

Western, Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Middle Africa, which is a very useful

and viable classification for handling the large number of small and big countries in the continent. The paper exhaustively covers various issues related to the

diaspora philanthropy. It highlights the difficulties of carrying out further

empirical research due to non-availability and inaccuracies of records and data.

At the same time, it provides valuable analysis of motivations, mechanisms and

institutions involved in the transfer of diaspora resources and the equity effects

of giving. The paper also makes a few policy recommendations.

Barbara Merz's paper brings forth the unique and interesting case of the

Caribbean diaspora, particularly with reference to three countries, viz., Guyana,

Haiti, and Jamaica. The uniqueness is attributed to the multi-layered diasporic

characteristics, arising from the fact that majority of the Caribbean diaspora

originated from a population which is itself largely diasporic - of Indian or African

origin- subsequently migrating to more attractive destinations like the US, Canada

and the UK. A survey-based chapter, it focuses on non-financial contributions

that the diaspora could make to development in the Caribbean. Orozco's paper

on Central American diasporas focuses on community philanthropy through the

HTAs- the so-called home town associations (HTAs) that maintain relationship

with local communities, retain a sense of community-belonging among the

diaspora, and support development activities in their places of origin. The paper

focuse upon three such countries of origin, viz., Guatemala, El Salvador, and

Honduras. The author point out that many Central American diasporas have

continued to be part of an impoverished underclass of migrants that depend on

precarious, low-paying jobs, and are disregarded by the society. He further

emphasizes that development promotion should therefore be the government's

responsibility, and not the diaspora's task.

Diaspora Studies 1, 2 (2008): 105-114

I 08 I Diaspora Studies I, 2 (2008 ): I 05-114

All in all, the volume is a timely publication for two reasons: One because quite a few developments around the world have brought the trends of dual and

multiple citizenship and what is called 'transnationalism' in the forefront of

bilateral and multilateral ;·elations between countries and regions, and therefore,

in the domain of national policies, signifying not a divided but collective loyalty

of the diaspora members to more than one nation. Secondly, in the social scien~es,

there is a noticeably growing recognition of human values like trust, loyalty,

philanthropy, and so on as cognizable traits of 'social capital'-both at the

individual level and the community level-that needs to be incorporated as

dependent variable in policy-making exercises. Given these, I consider the

collection an important one for stimulating the minds of those concerned with

the discourses on diasporas and development.

Zakir Hussain Centre for Educational Studies Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi-110067

Binod Khadria

Gijsbert Oonk eds, 2007. Global Indian Diasporas: Exploring Trajectories of Migration and Theory, Amsterdam University Press: Amsterdam,pp.294.

The term 'global Indian diaspora' with all its connotations-socio-cultural,

philosophical, political, and eschatological-requires to be understood in its

diverse spheres. And this book, the latest joint study of many schol~s on the

area, tries to concentrate on two of the spheres- 'historical' and 'sociological­

anthropological' -though with much emphasis on different strands which

conclusively pit it in the arena of inconclusive debate. The book is divided into two parts approaching two different perspectives:

the first part deals with critical historical perspectives with the help of which the

work sets its course to understand Indian diaspora and its changing attitude towards

homeland, the host country and the community in question itself (p.20); the second

part focuses on various but not always different sociological and anthropological

perspectives regarding Indian diaspora, which, as the editor says, shares its perspective from below (p.22, emphasis mine). The need of emphasizing this

particular perspective stems from the current academic practices which, as it

appears, tend to highlight the contemporary nuanced mechanics of migration, linking it with the diasporic formations, and making no attempts to decipher the

Book Reviews I I 09

individual psychological perceptions of any given community, here the case being

'Indian Diasporas.'

The whole book consists of eleven chapters and creates an academic balance

between the 'historical', and 'sociological and anthropological' perspectives,

which shows the author's urgent urge to point out an essential need to study

global Indian diasporas in the context of its ever-changing behavioural patterns.

By means of an imposing, exciting and striking recipe of theories, statistics,

and logic, and having as a feature a wide range of uncommon insights from different

scholars, the work divides and explores the social, historical and anthropological

bases of political-economic factors explicitly and implicitly motivating the global

Indian mass migration and bringing about its psychological aspects. The authors

put in order their multidimensional studies around the unpredictability and

·variability of the modem as well as pre-modem experiences of Indian migration

and diasporic formation: through transpositions in India, the transmogrification

from pure industrial to services sector in host country economies, the daily

increasing role and importance of diaspora in domestic as well as international

politics, the distribution of communities on religious ground, the portrayal of

language in diasporic identity formation, the regional and local dimension and

the transnational linkages and relations between ancestral and present land of

residence in global Indian diaspora, the response to the entertainment industry,

and the development of newly emanated guidelines of policy regimes that have

become more discouraging, erudite, and abstruse to manage.

A historical perspective scrutinizes the relevant issues: from the study of

Multanis and Shikarpuris, to loss of mother tongue among Indians in East Africa

in more than 100 years, to temporalities of time and space in contextualizing

diasporic identity of Tamil immigrants, to colonial Indian Muslims in Mauritius

and Suriname, and the accidental and coincidental change of fortune of Gujarati

Hindus in Britain.

Global Indian Diasporas: Exploring Trajectories of Migration and Theory

is abundant in distinct and most important issues. However, it seems accosting

to the reviewer to follow which amongst altering myriad of unconcealed points

is actually being tackled, or where it has already been buttonholed.

All the contemporary theories of international migration including macro and

micro-level explanatory frameworks like the push-and-pull model, the segmented

labour market theory, world-system theory, the political economy model, the

Diaspora Studies I, 2 (2008): I 05-II4

110 I Diaspora Studies I, 2 (2008): 105-114

neoclassical economic (rational choice) theory, human capital theory, new

economics of migration, migration network or social capital theory, the

cumulative causation model etc. have some roles to play in the Indian migratory

and diasporic behaviour. The book presents an encompassing different approach

before the various existing models in the South Asians in diaspora discourse,

and identifies its need and adv.antages over other models.

Examining an abstract idea of diaspora as a methodical contraption by

prospecting the emanation of an Indian merchandising diaspora during the period

of the 17th century, Levi directs his attention on the Indian business communities

of Multanis and Shikarpuris spreading across Afghanistan, Iran, Central Asia, the

Caucasus, and even Russia. In the process of getting to the bottom of the

emergence of the diaspora and its social organization, he quotes "long passages

from different eminent scholars in this field which is conceptually very

elaborative and reader friendly. He argues that both the Multanis and Shikarpuris

communities kept up an identity with their homeland, though, they did not see

themselves as constituent of global Indian diaspora. Explaining the geographical

genealogy of this merchant diaspora and their dichotomous connection with their

hosts he interprets that prosperity of these communities of Hindus and Muslims

may be due to their being trans-regional merchants which was a good sign for the

local regions. But, in his view, this had exceptions too. He compares and contrasts

this diaspora with the modem world diaspora of previous two centuries with all

the deeply distressing experiences of India's partition.

Taking into his careful account the 'perspective from below' (depicting the

migrants' own experiences and feelings), Oonk argues that establishing

themselves over a period of time facilitated Hindu Lohanas of East Africa in

transposing their economic-cultural tendencies from India to East Africa. Initially

these migrant Lohanas used to visit their homeland frequently for various

purposes, and they even fought for the preservation for their language, but, later

on, succeeding generations began to shed this spirit and lost the ability to

communicate in their native language. Mr. Oonk suggests that this was done

deliberately which made them produce a kind oflndian-African identity. His main

argument in his well researched article is that the diaspora concept, with all its

emphasis on 'rootedness, the homeland, the reproduction of Indian culture abroad',

should not inspire us to understand the history of Lohanas in east Africa (p.83).

In this way he traces the local and global significance of the various challenges

y, human capital theory, new ·

or social capital theory, the

to play in the Indian migratory

1compassing different approach

1 Asians in diaspora discourse,

·models.

a methodical contraption by

ising diaspora during the period

1e Indian business communities

hanistan, Iran, Central Asia, the

getting to the bottom of the

;ation, he quotes long passages

which is conceptually very

th the Multanis and Shikarpuris

!land, though, they did not see

ra. Explaining the geographical

1otomous connection with their

unities of Hindus and Muslims

s which was a good sign for the

too. He compares and contrasts

previous two centuries with all

ti tion.

ve from below' (depicting the

mk argues that establishing

1du Lohanas of East Africa in

m India to East Africa. Initially

1eland frequently for various

m for their language, but, later

spirit and lost the ability to

k suggests that this was done

:!.ian-African identity. His main

: diaspora concept, with all its

1ction oflndian culture abroad',

Lohanas in east Africa (p.83).

mce of the various challenges

Book Revie11·s I Ill

(weste rnization, colonial policies etc.) faced by Lohanas in colonial and

postco lonial periods which marked the entire phenomenon of identifying

themselves with their ever-going away homeland. The main weakness of this whole

aroument is that it bases itself on the sole presumption of language and sometimes 0 '

the patterns of everyday lives making all the significance in the behaviour of

Lohanese Indian di::ISI?Ora in east·Afri~· a . He does not give us any insight into

other indicators (social interaction and cohesion, economic relations with the

local inhabited lands, the change in their views, values and aspirations, role of

their homeland state and ' their contact with native land in encouraging this

behaviour etc.) which can throw some light on some of the important issues like

why did Lohanas in east Africa deliberately go this way after rolling into the

circle of Gujarati, Swahili, and then English? How other indicators other than

education and language contributed to the development of their distinct identity

separate from being an Ind_ian or East African but both? What was seemingly the

most fundamental reason behind their not willing to identify with their homeland?

The fourth chapter takes its clue from the third one. It, with ·all the possible

methodological consequences of diaspora, analyses how the concept of old and

new diaspora can have a great impact on the level of communication with the

native land. Similar to Mr. Oonk's story, it places great emphasis on language

(here, Tamil as one of the most significant carriers of culture and identity) but

with a huge deviation. The authors, Bhat and Bhaskar, argue that reproducing caste

and local regional identities of 'original' (emphasis mine) Andhra Pradesh is

much easier in the case of Tamil migrants. And they, quite suitably and likely,

attributed this to the modern mass media and internet. They provide a new insight

as to how the process of identity formation can be weighed and judged against

the same Tamil communities living in various other parts of the world. This is an

important meticulous formulation which the modern scholars of this field need

to work upon any inter-continental Indian diaspora.

Chapter five, written by Bal and Kerkhoff, explores the diaspora concept in

providing an interesting picture of Muslims in Mauritius and Suriname which

has been time and again excluded from the global Indian diaspora by academicians

and the government of India. Citing this reason the scholars maintain in this ·

thought provoking article that the Muslims of the British Indian origin have, over

a period of time, specified themselves in their own manners and geographical

locations, facilitating scholarly and governmental apathy towards them.

Diaspora Studies I , 2 (2008): 105-114

112 I Diaspora Studies I , 2 ( 2008) : 1.0:' - 114

Mattausch, in chapter six. suggests that pecuniary accomplishment o f the

Gujarati Hindu community in the United Kingdom, which he thinks as a recent

happening, is a matter of an incident tha t happened by chance rather than due to

organised structural reasons. This has very confined ~xceptions .. :1s in hi s view,

the part played by the extended family or the ccimmuility .is applicable to very

parti cular soc io-economic areas. In my wisdom, the author should not have

emphasized too much on the 'chance role ' just o n the basis of a. no-way-out

analysis that a cu.stomarily religious and divergently commercial commurii"!y like

the Gujarati Hindus in Britain cannot prosper economically.

Studying Indian immigrants of the Gujarati rural genesis, Rutten and Patel , in

chapter seven, draw attention to the salience of both the migrants' place of origin

and their place of habitation in order to expose that (he fir~t generation Patels

living in London exhibit much less regard to non-religious investments in India.

The authors raise an important point that the whole adventure and experience of

migration and the level of their interaction wi th the local habitats affect the nature

and character of their identity which paves a way for an impression of home to

become ambiguous. The good thing about this study is that it is being done with

the migrants in U.K. and their families back home.

Second generation Nizari Ismailis in Toronto and Canada were born in the

host country, and so they identify themselves with their local identity of host

society rather than with an Indian diasporic identity, as argues Mukaddam and

Mawani in chapter eight. They implicitly show the need for academicians to focus

much on this aspect of identity formation not on the 'diaspora' as a whole

structural framework.

Verstappen and Rutten, working on the reception of Indian cinema among

Hindustani youth in the Netherlands, bring to light that the imagined connection

between the media from the motherland and the migrants' relation to this

motherland must be d ifferentiated because the viewers seem to be very

.. disinterested in their home affairs . But it is very likely because one always judges

with the circumstantial and surrounding lens and here the lens is the affairs of

the press where they are li vi ng.

Chapter ten penned by Lynnebakke makes a distinction between the relational

identities of direct Indian migrants to Amsterdam and their twice counterparts

who migrated via Suriname by asserting that the differences in class, education·,

religiosity, migration periods, caste etc. have prevented a unification between

Book Re1·ielt'S I 113

the two which is the fundamental cause behind their not having a pan-Indian identity

in Netherlands in spi te of having many common , beliefs. values, customs, and

likings.

The last chapter written by one of the most renowned sc holars in this field ,

Claude Markovits, is an afterword-cum-conclusion which emphasizes that the

dichotomous identifications of the migrants with their Indian homeland is not

sufficient reason to reject the concept of diaspora out of hand, as the same could

be probably said of any similarly broad notion (p. 264). Given the arguments he

has forwarded, the reviewer is in full agreement. One thing which is curiously

and strangely missing in this chapter is the total regard to the research primaries

i.e. footnotes or references (despite the given numerical stamps) which I think

must be the mistake of either the publisher or the editor as I otherwise have faith

in the writer 's credentials.

At first inquiring sight, one can say that the whole research is abundant of

obvious arguments, formulations and academic remarks. For example, the book,

at many places, argues that the first generation Indian migrants feel nearer to

home on many levels (religion, language, culture, identity etc.) and the later

generations fee l away from home on these levels, which is quite apparent and

understandable. This is true not only for the constituents of global Indian diasporas

but forte migrants of any global diaspora. As far as the ambivalent relations of

the migrants with their homeland are concerned, it is again clear that any historic

diaspora \:ommunity living down to many generations would have certain notions

of ambiguity and contradiction in their connecting identities with their homeland.

And this is because the second-third generations who have not been born in India

have not experienced and preserved any significant identity with India in matters

of language, culture, society and to some extent, religion. However, the book

really deserves a kind and humble academic appreciation in the sense that it has

succceeded in designing its scholarship with the 'perspective from below.'

An intellectual scholarship in terms of an edited volume which proclaims

itself to be an amalgamation of ambiva lent notions of migrants with their

homeland through its different chapters written by discrete authors does not

present very palpably a basic straight line of its structure, thesis, and argument

through which one can easily grope into its unified meaning. However it is an

appreciable academic attempt to comprehensively elaborate the metaphorical anatomy

of the historical-anthropological understanding of global Indian diaspora with the

Diaspora Studies I, 2 (2008): 105-114

114 I Diaspora Studies I , 2 (2008): 105-114

assistance of varying scholarly conceptions and misconceptions which have been

very popular in the academic circles for a long time. The best thing in this scholarship

is the thematic study of different and sometimes varying aspects of global Indian or

south Asian diaspora in migration discourse. Each writer has done well especially

where meeting the needs of their approach - historical or anthropological - is

concerned.

By arguing the case of global Indian diaspora in the context of the overall paradigm

of 'migration and discourse' , the book explores, questions and limits the all prevailed

and well-accepted conceptual framework of understanding 'diaspora' in the light of

its past, present and future causes and consequences, which as far as one can imagine,

is not involved. And again on this front this work has performed well. The issues

highlighted and emphasized by the authors present an agreeable proposition separately

that the diaspora, which as an academic category, a methodological instrument, a

structured framework, and a well accepted conceptual formulation has been levied

upon the academicians by none other than themselves, should be reconstructed and

reorganized so as to fulfill all the needs of understanding the ever changing diasporic

notion and behaviour.

Centre for West Asian and African Studies School of International Studies' Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi - JI0067

Kundan Kumar