Diaspora and Indian Diaspora

 Diaspora refers to a scattered population whose origin lies within its smaller
geographic locale.
 Diaspora can also refer to the movement of the population from its original homeland.
 Diaspora has come to refer particularly to historical mass dispersions of an
involuntary nature which means that a group of people are forced to move out of their
country of origin for one or multiple reason.
 According to Robin Cohen diasporas exhibit several of the following features:
1. Dispersal from an original homeland, often traumatically.
2. Alternatively, the expansion from a homeland in search of work, in pursuit of
trade or to further colonial ambitions.
3. A collective memory and myth about the homeland.
4. An idealization of the supposed ancestral home.
5. A return movement,
6. A strong ethnic group consciousness sustained over a long time.
7. A troubled relationship with host societies.
8. A sense of solidarity with co-ethnic members in other countries.
9. The possibility of a distinctive creative, enriching life in tolerant host countries.
 Writers of the Indian Diaspora have enjoyed the centre stage in emerging new
literature chiefly because of the theoretical formulation being generated by their
works.
 Their language and way of writing are transformed when they come in contact with
the other culture or try to assimilate with a new culture.
 These writers are often pre-occupied with the elements of nostalgia as they seek to
locate themselves in new cultures.
 They write in relation with the culture of their homeland and at the same time adopt
and negotiate with the cultural space of the host land.
 Generally, diasporic literature deals with alienation, displacement, existential
rootlessness, nostalgia, quest of Identity. It also addresses issues related to
amalgamation or disintegration of cultures.
 It reflects the immigrant experience that comes out of the immigrant settlement.
 Uma Parameswaran has defined it as follows: “First is one of nostalgia for the
homeland left behind mingled with fear in a strange land. The second is a phase in
 which one is busy adjusting to the new environment that there is little creative output.
The third phase is the shaping of diaspora existence by involving themselves in
ethnocultural issues. The fourth is when they have ‘arrived’ and start participating in
the larger world of politics and national issues”.
 The Indian diasporic population is of particular importance because of the fact that
India had experienced migration as a result of which diasporic settlements all across
the world from a very early period.
 Indian diasporic settlements can be traced back to as early as pre-colonial times when
people moved to mainly Southeast Asian region in search of trade and to propagate
religion.
 In the colonial period we have a huge history of indentured labour being transported
to various colonies in various parts of the world by the British rulers.
 In the present times we also see a lot of migration happening from India because of
the fact that people go abroad to find a better life and better job with a lot of dream in
their eyes, they go and settle in a land which is unknown to them but that does not
mean that they forget their home.
 Mostly the migrants suffer from the pain of being far off from their homes, the
memories of their motherland, the anguish of leaving behind everything familiar
agonizes the minds of migrants.
 William Safran has observed that, “they continue to relate personally or vicariously,
to the homeland in a way or another, and their ethnic-communal consciousness and
solidarity are importantly defined by the existence of such a relationship.”
 The diasporic Indians too, do not break their relationship with the ancestral land.
There is a search for continuity and ‘ancestral impulse’, an effort to look for their
roots.
 In their attempt to integrate with the adopted culture while maintaining their
inheritance, they develop a dual identity, and their culture becomes a sandwich
culture. Their efforts for assimilation and failure to do so dishearten them.
 The feeling of rootlessness, alienation, confusion, nostalgia, dislocation and sufferings
due to discrimination on the basis of race, culture, religion and language concludes
into conflicts, fight for identity and on the other hand lead to birth of feeling of
marginality in the minority group. This results in the creation of a fractured identity.
 All of this goes into the formation of diasporic literature.
 Interestingly, the terms ‘diaspora’, ‘exile’, alienation’, are synonymous and possess an
ambiguous status of being both a refugee and an ambassador.
 The two roles being very different, the diasporic writers attempt at doing justice to
both. As a refugee, he seeks security and protection and as an ambassador, projects
his own culture and helps enhance its comprehensibility.
 Indian diaspora consists of individuals that each have their own sense of being Indian
and what being Indian means for their lives.
 This includes how they feel towards other NRIs, in what way they integrate the Indian
culture into their lives, whether they feel comfortable living in the western world or
dream of returning to India, whether they appreciate their ‘otherness’ or try to hide it
and other issues like that.
 The diasporic writers turn to their homeland for various reasons. For eg, V.S. Naipaul
who is in a perpetual quest for his roots turns to India for the same. Rushdie visits
India to mythologize its history. Rohinton Mistry visits and re-visits India for a kind
of re-vitalization and to re-energize his aching soul.
 The diasporic writings also known as the ‘theory of migrancy’ helps generate
aesthetic evaluation, negotiate with cultural constructs and aid the emergency of a
new hybridity.
 One of the most important ways in which diasporic existence of Indians abroad is
represented is through the documentation of their memories.
 These memories are of the writer’s own experiences (of childhood and adulthood) or
are passed on orally to him/her by elders in the form of anecdotes and tales. This
happens with the second generation migrants.
 These shared memories, in turn, give rise to an image of India in the writer’s mind
that he/she desires to explore.
 Therefore, the memories of the ‘home’ left behind not only haunt the lives of the first-
generation immigrants, but also leaves an indelible impression of their children.
 Literature’s engagement with the phenomena of Indian diaspora can be categorised
into- literature on the diaspora and literature of/by the diaspora.
 This can be attributed to the difference in perspectives of an ‘insider’ as opposed to an
‘outsider’. Literature on the Indian Diaspora is enriched by the contributions of both
diasporic Indian writers and Indians who are intrigued by the Indian diaspora.
 For a large number of Indian diasporic population the expressions of their aspiration
and experiences and of their joys and pathos find their way into the creative writings
of the diasporics.
 For others, it ignites a desire to know their history, which results in endeavours
leading to academic writings.
 For many Indian diasporic writers like V.S. Naipaul and Jhumpa Lahiri, the home that
they represent in their writings is a part of their imaginary past.
 These groups of writers are usually second-generation diasporic population.
 For each of them ‘India’ bears a different meaning.
 Their perception of the ‘imaginary homeland’ and the inclination towards it is largely
influenced by their socialization in their formative years.
 The first-generation migrants who left India preserved a photographic image of their
‘home’ in their mind.
 This image hardly changed with time. It is quite obvious that children initially
visualised India through their parent’s eyes.
 Unlike today when technology helps immigrants stay virtually connected to their
‘home’, the early diasporics were completely alienated from their ‘home’.
 For those diasporic writers who spent their formative years in India, homeland is not
frozen in time.
 They do not harp much on an ‘imaginary homeland’. They are well informed about
the existential India. Being part of the diaspora enables them to criticise the flaws in
the system.
 Jhumpa Lahiri is an example of a diasporic writer brought up with the luxuries of life
abroad.
 The diasporic writers through their literary works bring to the fore their own angst and
that of the Indian diaspora at large. These narratives present before the readers a
unique record of the Indian diaspora, a record that reveals a glimpse of the old values,
practices and the consistent improvisations and assimilations that gradually penetrate.