South Asian Diaspora 

About: South Asian Diaspora is an academic journal published by Taylor & Francis. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Diaspora & Identity (social science). It has an ISSN identifier of 1943-8184. Over the lifetime, 272 publications have been published receiving 1453 citations.

Revisiting the UK Muslim diasporic public sphere at a time of terror: from local (benign) invisible spaces to seditious conspiratorial spaces and the ‘failure of multiculturalism’ discourse

Abstract: Public exposes of hidden spaces where diasporic Muslims allegedly enunciate extreme anti-Western rhetoric or plot sedition highlight an ironic shift from a time, analyzed in my earlier work, when the Pakistani diasporic public sphere in Britain was invisible and local while nevertheless being regarded as relatively benign: a space of expressive rhetoric, ceremonial celebration and local power struggles. Suicide bombings on the London underground and revelations of aborted conspiracies have led to a national media debate in which Muslim “community ” leaders for the first time have come to be active participants. They respond to accusations by politicians and journalists that multicultural tolerance has “failed” in Britain, and that national Muslim organizations are the prime cause of this alleged failure. Addressing this “failure of multiculturalism” discourse, the chapter questions, first, whether talk of multiculturalism in the UK is really about “culture” at all. Second, it explores why Muslim integration into Britain—the so-called success or failure of multiculturalism—has come to be “tested” by Muslim national leaders’ willingness to attend Holocaust Memorial Day commemorations. The public dialogue reflecting on these issues in the mainstream and ethnic press, the chapter proposes, highlights a signal development in the history of the UK Muslim diasporic public sphere: from being hidden and local to being highly visible and national, responsive to British politicians, investigative journalists and the wider British public.

Landscapes of diasporic religious belonging in the edge-city: the Jain temple at Potters Bar, outer London

Abstract: This paper extends current debates about diaspora cities to the suburbs, arguing that new forms of diasporic religious architecture in suburban and edge-city locations are indicative of complex geographies of migration, settlement, mobility, transnational networks and diasporic material cultures. Drawing on a detailed analysis of the building of a new Jain Temple built in Potters' Bar, on the edge of London, by the Oshwal Community of Jains, we argue that the temple reflects the distinctive hybridities of new suburban faith spaces. The paper also illustrates some of the conflicts between diasporic faith groups and other suburbanites which are shaped by contested narratives of distinctively suburban landscapes and society.

Queue-jumpers, terrorists, breeders: representations of Tamil migrants in Canadian popular media

Abstract: The 2010 arrival of the MV Sun Sea on the BC coast sparked a wave of heated anti-migrant sentiment in Canadian popular media which cast the 492 Sri Lankan Tamils on board as ‘illegitimate’ refugee claimants. While Canada has historically seen itself as the safe haven and protector of human rights for those with ‘legitimate’ claims, the Sun Sea response reflects a shift in attitudes about refugees and immigration in popular discourse and Canadian public policy. This paper examines the construction of Tamil migrants in online news comments, blog posts and message boards and considers how such media images reinforce and legitimise public and political opinion.

'My language, my people': Language and ethnic identity among British-born South Asians

Abstract: This study explores how a group of second generation Asians (SGA) understood and defined language, focusing upon the role they perceived language to have played in their identity. Twelve SGA were interviewed and the data were subjected to qualitative thematic analysis. Four superordinate themes are reported, entitled 'Mother tongue and self', 'A sense of ownership and affiliation', 'Negotiating linguistic identities in social space' and 'The quest for a positive linguistic identity'. Participants generally expressed a desire to maintain continuity of self-definition as Asian, primarily through the maintenance of the heritage language (HL). An imperfect knowledge of the HL was said to have a negative impact upon psychological well-being. There were ambivalent responses to the perception of language norms, and various strategies were reported for dealing with dilemmatic situations and identity threat arising from bilingualism. Recommendations are offered for interventions that might aid the 'management' of bilingualism among SGA.

Dubai, the city as corporation

Abstract: veranda of the family store, where she learns how to work with beads from the Maasai elder Ole Lekakeny. Lekakeny tells her: ‘You will learn how to bead the bead in your fingers and let the colours sing to your eyes. You will know the Maasai art when you start beading the sky’ (p. 293). It is through Lekakeny (‘the storyteller of the Savannah’, p. 310) that Sakina is initiated into the mythology and legends of the Maasai. Lekakeny tutors her on the intricate bead patterns of the emankeeki (a circular, beaded neck to chest decorate resting on shoulders that married women wear). Sakina works on her own emankeeki and as the colours and patterns of beads take over, Sakina experiences her personal moment of ‘E’sika’r’ which in Maasai can mean ‘joy, freedom or splendor It can also mean adornment. All meanings imply delight as from beauty’ (p. 436). Thus, Sakina begins to evolve her personal language by blending both Khoja and Masai aesthetics. Art becomes her means of connecting to the indigenous, feminine heritage of the land and of synthesizing her multiple Asian and African heritage. Somjee offers a rare, gendered perspective into the lives of ‘passenger’ women who migrated to colonial East Africa. Apart from the accounts of wives and mothers, many who came as child brides, we also learn of the painful struggle of ‘othered’ women who desire an escape from the ‘kothas’ or brothels in Mumbai, only to fall into the flesh trade in their new land. He offers the book as a tribute to elderly bead bais, the majority of whom have migrated to the ‘new land’ of Canada and whose stories remain largely unheard. The writing in Gujarati script on the book cover (transliteration – Khota moti na sacha wepari) meaning ‘Of imitation pearls, we are the genuine merchants’, is what is written in hand beneath the sign of Dadabapa’s store. There is, however, nothing of imitation in this 450 pages treasure trove of minute details on the daily, domestic lives of Khoja women, that first time novelist Sultan Somjee weaves together with poignant poetic lyricism.