Diaspora as Foreign Policy
Diaspora as Foreign Policy
This chapter examines diaspora as a territorializing practice of foreign policy. It is concerned with understanding the changes in India's diaspora policy, from inclusion during the colonial period, to rejection from 1947–1999, followed by a selective reincorporation from the early 2000s. The chapter first offers a historical summary of the emergence of a globally dispersed Indian nation. It argues that India turned its back on its diaspora on gaining independence to assuage the concerns of its Asian neighbors. By the end of the century, however, India was concerned with bringing elements of its overseas population “home,” in particular, upper-caste and middle-class Hindus. This process of reterritorialization and deterritorialization was driven by contradictions in the definition of the Indian nation exacerbated by domestic social upsurge.
Keywords: Girmitya, Colonial India's Foreign Policy, Global Indian Nation, Rejection and Reincorporation of Diaspora, Uganda 1972, High-Level Committee on Diaspora, Asian Relations Conference 1947, Bandung 1955, Diaspora
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