Showing papers in "South Asian Diaspora in 2014"

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.

‘The heart, stomach and backbone of Pakistan': Lahore in novels by Bapsi Sidhwa and Mohsin Hamid

Abstract: Although much research has been undertaken on Indian cities, particularly Bombay/Mumbai, Calcutta/Kolkata and Delhi, Pakistani urban environments have not been subjected to anything like the same degree of scrutiny. There exists a long and rich history of artistic and textual interpretations of the city of Lahore, but this body of work has gone largely unappreciated in academic scholarship. To redress this critical gap, the article examines fiction by two diasporic authors from the Pakistani Punjab, Bapsi Sidhwa and Mohsin Hamid, for their representations of Lahore as a postcolonial megacity which is crucially important to the nation and the Punjab, and which interpenetrates with and is cross-fertilized by its Punjabi rural hinterland.

Food blogs and the digital reimagination of South Asian diasporic publics

Abstract: Using the vivid appeal of photographs and text, South Asian diasporic bloggers present the pleasures of traditional recipes of regional Indian food. While the bloggers offer individual reminiscences about home, homeland and the comfort of home-cooked meals, the blog serves as a cultural form that works within a circulatory matrix where new configurations of cosmopolitan sociality are being constituted. In the transnational intimacies of the virtual kitchen, the bloggers create a culinary archive that mines regional details and local origins only to go beyond and forge broader culinary publics. Building linkages within prescribed templates, the blogs signify a new moment in the globalization of Indian regional food and a digital turn in the formation of networks of sociality and a strategic distribution of diasporic publics.

Transnational Sufism from below: charismatic counselling and the quest for well-being

Abstract: Pakistani migrants in Denmark have achieved a level of prosperity and social mobility that first-generation migrants could only dream of before they emigrated in the 1960s However, their success has come at a price Currently, migrant families are experiencing a period of radical social change, which challenges and alters their perception of well-being In such a critical situation, they may turn towards Sufi shaykhs, located in Pakistan, for help and guidance This article puts forward the concept of ‘transnational Sufism from below’ in order to explore how migrants pragmatically use religious counselling in dealing with the contingencies of everyday life The quest for well-being is not only related to the pain and suffering of ‘the individual body’, but it is also related, to a large extent, to ‘the social body’ of family and kinship relations, and seems to outline a new kind of diffuse transnational engagement with the potential for reshaping diasporic identities and connections between Pakistan and

Exiled in its own land: Diasporification of Punjabi in Punjab

Abstract: Diasporic studies are about groups of people living as exiles, self-exiles, migrants and immigrants. Suppression of diasporic communities in various forms in their former (but original) homeland and/or adopted homeland has been the major concern of diasporic studies. Issues such as language, culture, identity and religion form core areas of these studies. Recently, the peripheral existence of various minorities within a country/society has led to diasporic studies in which no transborder situation is involved, which shows that the scope of diaspora as a discipline or research field has widened a great deal. However, there is one aspect of diasporic studies which has remained almost unexplored on its own. This is what can be termed as non-people issues facing diasporic fates of their own. Language, culture and religion can be such issues. This paper takes up the status of the Punjabi language in the state of Punjab in Pakistan. It claims that Punjabi language is being exiled from various domains of society...

Punjabiyat and the music of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Abstract: Undoubtedly, one of the most popular singers of South Asia, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, individually, and as part of his Qawaali party has been neglected in the academic literature. Rectifying that situation, this article locates his biography and music in the context of another under-theorised area of scholarly work, that of Punjabiyat. In exploring Nusrat's biography, the connections between a non-essential notion of Punjabiyat and musical performativity are illustrated and examined. The various forces that operate to sustain musical and cultural continuity are presented in an oscillation between the normatively demarcated zones of East Punjab, West Punjab and the Punjabi diaspora.

Women and migration in South Africa: historical and literary perspectives

Abstract: When Indians migrated from India to Natal in the mid-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries as both indentured and free Indians, women were an important component of the newcomers. The lives of indentured women have only recently begun to gain critical attention in South African historiography. The narratives of free or ‘passenger’ Indian women have largely been narrated from the vantage point of ‘passenger’ males in the context of their arrival and settlement in Natal. The inclusion of their narratives into the history of Indian South Africans will stimulate a rethinking of the gendered experiences of Indian immigrants in the context of concomitant differences among ethnic groups, social mobility and the processes of acculturation and integration. Moreover, it will bring to the fore a category of immigrant women whose histories have yet to be fully explored and documented

Culture shock on Southall Broadway: re-thinking ‘second-generation’ return through ‘geographies of Punjabiness’

Abstract: This paper explores geographies of Punjabiness within Britain in order to engage critically with the recent literature on diasporic return. I begin by drawing attention to the established geographies of Punjabi settlement in Britain, as illustrated by the Thandi coach route maps. This paper considers the significance of these inter-connected hubs of Punjabiness for the multiple identities of the ‘second generation’. I examine life history interviews with ‘second-generation’ Punjabis who grew up in provincial cities and towns off the Thandi route maps – an increasing quantity among Punjabis in Britain. I explore how they construct places like Southall Broadway and Soho Road as Punjabi and go on day trips to these places, as part of their quest for a more authentic identity in the context of their own lives. I show that these places, too, can be crucibles of diasporic nostalgia, exploration of identity and a phenomenological sense of Punjabiness, at times pleasurable and at times unsettling. I suggest that ...

Bollywood travels: culture, diaspora and border crossings in popular Hindi cinema

Abstract: Bollywood travels: culture, diaspora and border crossings in popular Hindi cinema, by Rajinder Dudrah, London, Routledge, 2012, 130 pp., US$138 (cloth), ISBN 9780415447409This slim volume containin...

L'Inde Perdue, L'Inde Retrouvée (India lost, India found): representations of Francophone Indo-Caribbeans in Maryse Condé's Crossing the mangrove and Ernest Moutoussamy's A la recherche de l'Inde perdue

Abstract: In this essay, the study of Indo-Caribbean writing is expanded beyond its customary focus on the Anglophone region to explore representations of Caribbean Indianness in the literary works of two Francophone Guadeloupean writers, Maryse Conde and Ernest Moutoussamy. The essay examines the ways in which each author points up the shortcomings of creolization discourse when it comes to accounting for the experiences of Indo-Caribbean subjects. Also at stake is how Conde and Moutoussamy deploy the theoretical positionings of the Indianite and coolitude movements to better elucidate the elided experiences of Indians in Guadeloupe.

Tracing Sufi influence in the works of contemporary Siraiki Poet, Riffat Abbas

Abstract: This paper examines the work of nineteenth century Siraiki mystic poet Khawaja Ghulam Farid and traces his influence on a contemporary poet Riffat Abbas. I aim to shed light on the changing disposition of Siraiki poetry through content and textual analysis of selected Kafis written by both these poets. Kafi writing is observed as a discourse moulded to convey some political implications as it can be associated with the ‘risky political times’ as it challenges the theorocratic and religious institutions. I argue that while Riffat Abbas is inspired by Farid and claims to be his disciple, he does not aim to replicate his master work; his poems are resiliently abstracted because he compliments Siraiki nationalism more candidly as compared to Farid. Thus, his Kafis transform into critical manifestations of Abbas's own historical moment. I indicate how Abbas's work is important in the current historical context of this region and why the comparison between the two is important for a close understanding of Sirai...

Simulating South Asia: literature, culture and belonging in Ireland

Abstract: The South Asian diasporas living in Ireland are a growing and vibrant community. Historical and cultural connections, particularly between Ireland and India, are central in the burgeoning relationship between the two regions. Cultural exchange is also a flourishing trend, as are associations in science, technology and education. In Ireland, South Asia is increasingly represented by the diasporic population in the literature, film and other arts, but despite the variety and wealth of South Asian diasporic cultures, it is often consigned to the superficial, even the hyper-real, eliding social realism. Furthermore, the role played by both state policy and the rise and fall of the Celtic Tiger is important in the related discussion of the frequently stigmatized, differential space of the ‘non-Irish national’ and the discrimination experienced by non-national and diasporic cultures.

The journey of food from ‘When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine’ to ‘Mrs. Sen's’ in Lahiri'sInterpreter of Maladies

Abstract: As a chronicler of cultural interface, in Jhumpa Lahiri's debut collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies, food paradoxically establishes intertextuality, humanity, otherness, negotiation as well as respect, albeit in different contexts This article tries to highlight how the highly acclaimed writer constantly underscores the politics of Bengali diaspora identity in her stories through multiple nuances of the food metaphor, highlighting the specificity of Bengali cuisine and eating etiquettes, by creating a subtle dialogue between the second and the sixth story of the collection It intends to explore how the journey of the food metaphor from ‘When Mr Pirzada Came to Dine’ to ‘Mrs Sen's’ works in a typical pattern of the deconstruction of hegemonic discourses, in the critique of the plight of Bengali diaspora women, in the reinterpretation of difference and, thereby, in the development of their Bengali immigrant identity

Writing Dubai: Indian labour migrants and taxi topographies

Abstract: Since the discovery of oil, the Gulf states have become the most sought after destinations, especially for job seekers from South Asia which, in turn, has resulted in a rapidly growing population in the Gulf states mainly due to the large expatriate work force [Kapiszewski, A. 2006. “Arab versus Asian Migrant Workers in the GCC Countries.” Accessed November 5, 2012. http://www.un.org/esa/population/meetings/EGM_Ittmig_Arab/P02_Kapiszewski.pdf]. Proceeding from Amitav Ghosh's pioneering essay, ‘Petrofiction: The Oil Encounter and the Novel’, where Ghosh maintains that despite its dramatic nature any literary engagement with the oil encounter and its main protagonists has remained ‘imaginatively sterile’, this paper examines the literary representation of Indian labour migrants in Dubai. With a particular focus on Shamlal Puri's novel Dubai Dreams: The Rough Road to Riches (2010), which centres around the lives of a group of Indian taxi drivers in Dubai and Ali F. Mostafa's film City of Life, it explores th...

British South Asian theatres: a documented history

Abstract: representation of the secret codes to be spoken, seen and heard cinematically. The last two chapters of this volume travel beyond specific films; Chapter 5 attempts to theorize how audiences receive and participate in Bollywood culture in metropolitan locales. Using the theoretical framework of the ‘haptic urban ethnoscape’, Dudrah explores ways of seeing the body of the film and bodies of audiences as meeting and interfacing in multi-sensory ways. This framework enables interesting ways of understanding urban cultural geographies. The last essay attempts to explore the idea of travelling Bollywood’s cultural and entertainment industries, through the case study of The Unforgettable Tour in 2008, a multi-star extravaganza which travelled several cities in the UK, USA and Canada. Drawing on participant observation, textual analysis, performance and cultural studies, this essay examines what it means to ‘perform’ Bollywood in a multi-million global financial industry. This last chapter covers some interesting ground, though one wishes that the rather breezy analysis was supported by some hard facts and data. I enjoyed this book: the obvious pleasure that Dudrah experiences in Bollywood is infectious, even though the writing is pretty often turgid and flat.

(Dis)honourable paradigms: a critical reading of Provoked, Shame and Daughters of Shame

Abstract: The construction of an ethnic identity is based on the confluence of self and culture. Ethnic groups in the diaspora preserve ethnic identity by expecting adherence to communal and social codes and the Punjabi community in the UK is no exception. The construction of women as the repository of honour or izzat is the most important construct used to establish cultural order. This equates women with collective honour resulting in extreme psychological, mental and physical control over them. Therefore, they are unable to dissociate themselves from this construct and find themselves trapped within its confines. This paper locates Provoked by Kiranjit Ahluwalia and Rahila Gupta and Shame and Daughters of Shame by Jasvinder Sanghera in this context outlining the establishment and exertion of this construct, which perpetuates patriarchal order. It argues that the act of utterance through the autobiographies creates a space for alternative means of self-definition and presents counter-narratives to this hegemonic ...

‘Home was always far away’: intertextual and intermedial poetic appropriations of double consciousness in Sujata Bhatt's Pure Lizard

Abstract: In her poems, Indian-born, American-educated and German-based poet Sujata Bhatt examines the relationships between literature, diaspora and memory. Specifically, she employs a variety of personae (lyrical voices) that bridge continents, languages and identities. In her most recent poetry collection, Pure Lizard [Bhatt, S. 2008. Pure Lizard. Manchester: Carcantet], Bhatt uses intertextual and intermedial poetic strategies to explore and convey the heterogeneity of the Indian diasporic experience. Echoing Stuart Hall's notion of diaspora, I argue that Bhatt's recent poetry collection explores a poetics of diasporic transformation by renegotiating and appropriating W.E.B. Du Bois's term, ‘double consciousness’, as she draws on the idea of the individual who is characterized by several, albeit warring, identities. In this light, I will analyse the ways in which Bhatt's writings as well as her larger poetic project both overcome and re-enact the unsettling predicament of her own as well as her personae's displ...

Mapping diasporic subjectivities

Abstract: Our understanding of the complex heterogeneity of the South Asian diaspora can only be enriched by inputs from across disciplines. This special issue aims to foreground the potential of literary and cultural narratives to allow for a critical understanding of the dynamics of diverse diaspora formations. While social scientists offer perspectives into the political, economic, and demographic aspects and conditions of migration, the literary theorist engages with the creative handling of issues of migration, thereby offering more personal insights into the individual world of the migrant, and its connection with the larger collective. In their preface to Writing Across Worlds: Literature and Migration, King, Connell, and White suggest that the research agenda of the social sciences can be only enriched by creative writing which focuses on the realm of geo-cultural border crossings:

Punjabi immigrant mobility in the United States: adaptation through race and class

Abstract: American media in the twentieth century transformed a commonplace taxi cab into an icon of a city that purportedly never sleeps. While taxi cabs have become an indispensible part of New York City's...

Imagining Punjab and the Punjabi diaspora: after more than a century of Punjabi migration

Abstract: This special issue foregrounds the region within diaspora studies through examining the representations of Punjab, a land-locked region divided between India and Pakistan after the partition of 194...