Basu, Sudeep (2013) Diasporas transforming homelands: nuancing 'collective remittance' practices in a western Indian village. Working papers (59). Asia Research Centre, The London School of Economics & Political Science, London, UK.
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Abstract
Diasporic communities that advance their ancestral homelands through forging links with it can be best examined in the context of the history of migration of these communities and the culture of developing stakes in the homeland through material and emotional investments of various kinds. While globalization of migration has facilitated diasporas of various kinds, there has been a marked turn of gaze towards the homeland by diasporic members. What ties the emigrant/diasporics with the places of origin are collective meso-structures of village communities/associations and hometown networks which integrate and manage the changes induced by migration, in maintaining and constructing boundaries, villages spaces, resources, hierarchies, norms and practices. While migration encompasses a whole range of social, political and economic factors, the focus of this study in a village in North Gujarat, western India is not on why people migrate nor on why people give but rather on the effects and meanings that migration and collective remittances would hold for individuals or groups in ‘places of origin’. This search for meanings would entail an understanding of the values, structures and expectations that inhere in acts of giving. While reconstructing the local community’s reception of the emergent dual character of diasporic giving, which is, charitable ‘sacred’ giving – the Indian equivalent of ‘dan’ on the one hand and ‘non-sacred’ giving - towards development works in a village setting on the other, what impingements they may have on local development processes and on the formation of ‘village collectives’ will be further interrogated.
| Item Type: | Monograph (Working Paper) |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | http://www.lse.ac.uk/asiaResearchCentre/Home.aspx |
| Additional Information: | © 2013 The Author |
| Divisions: | Asia Centre |
| Subjects: | G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races J Political Science > JQ Political institutions Asia |
| Date Deposited: | 17 Jul 2014 09:15 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Sep 2023 23:30 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/57955 |
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