An international E-conference on “Migration, Diasporas and Sustainable Development: Perspectives, Policies, Opportunities and Challenges” was jointly organized by Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism (GRFDT), Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA) and Center for Research on North America (CISAN), from 2nd to 5th November, 2020.
The conference, which consisted of several sessions, brought together both promising and established scholars from all over the world for sharing their knowledge on various aspects of migration.
A session titled “Perspectives on Migration and Diaspora” was held on the second day of the conference covering wide ranging areas such as politics, sociology, literature and other cultural aspects. The session had seven presenters and it was chaired by Prof. Vivek Kumar, who is presently the Chairperson at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, School of Social Sciences, JNU.
Brain drain: A worrying factor for ‘unstable’ countries
The first speakers were Prof. Bernardo Bolanos (Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Mexico) and Prof. Camelia Tigau (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico) who focused on the lack of Nobel Prizes in Latin America and how brain drain has been a significant feature of the academia in the region. It has been one of the worst affected regions due to the loss of its academics, surpassed only by Africa and Eastern Europe.
“Corruption, insufficient commitment to science, lack of adequate resources, local political upheavals and the region’s economic dependency have led to regular departures of the brightest minds”, said Bolanos.
The study included four Nobel Prize winners- Bernardo Alberto Houssay (Physiology or Medicine), Cesar Milstein (Physiology or Medicine), Luis Federico Leloir (Chemistry) and Mario Molina (Chemistry) and Alberto Calderon, an eminent mathematician who won the Wolf Prize in 1989. All of them were forced to migrate at some point in their life to Europe or United States of America due to political violence, corruption, lack of infrastructure and inadequate cultivation of scientific disciplines.
Although brain drain has often looked at in the 90s as beneficial for factors like remittances, organization of the scientific diaspora to promote scientific collaboration, and transfer of technology, brain drain has also been a reflection of the economic, political and cultural turmoil in the origin countries.
Canadian dream has replaced the American Dream
USA has been the traditional destination for highly skilled Indian IT professionals. But according to Dr. Amba Pande (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi) and Prof. Camelia Tigau, Cananda has emerged as an attractive alternative after implementing the Global Skills Strategy (GSS) in 2017.
“Unlike the H-1B visa programme, the GSS offers fast track work permits for skilled workers within shorter time. Besides, the Canadian multiculturalism seems to be a protective gear against the anti-immigrant populism that has engulfed several other countries. Due to USA’s restrictive policies, cities like Toronto have become the favourable destination for a large number of migrants”, said Dr. Pande.
Workers often face difficulties in renewing their visas in USA. They feel uncomfortable with the anti-immigrant rhetoric but don’t wish to return to India at the same time as well.
Canada has adopted a friendly migration approach. Factors like processing time, application fee and selection criteria are designed for catering to more skilled migrants. They allow work permit for spouses as well.
The arrival of such a large number of skilled migrants has benefitted Canadian economy, especially in the areas of technology, real estate and tourism.
Honesty and diligence key to overcome adverse situations
Prof. Anand Mahanand (EFLU, Hyderabad), focused on the narratives of indentured labourers, who were transported to work in the plantations of Trinidad, Mauritius and other countries after the abolition of slavery in USA through Kenneth R Lalla’s autobiography I am a Dream to My Village: From India to Trinidad(2011). The novel deals with the upward social mobility of a migrant’s son who went on to become a barrister and later a parliamentarian.
While many argue that it is not possible for an unprivileged person to rise higher in the social ladder without the help of the state and society in the adopted country, Prof. Mahanand argued, “It is the family and the diligence of the individual that contributes to such an upward mobility”.
The narrative begins with the author’s father migrating from Darbhanga in Bihar to Trinidad for working as a plantation labourer. It was his father who looked after him as his mother had fled with another man. His father instilled strong moral and ethical values in him.
Knowing that education was the only way to rise above the pitiful situation, he immersed himself in academics while moulding his character according to his father’s teachings. Before becoming a judge, he took up small jobs to support himself and his family. Even after getting higher positions, he conducted himself in a humble manner. Prof. Mahanand concluded that strong morals and values are key to guide one through painful and disheartening experiences.
A traumatic memory binds ‘home’ and ‘abroad’
The next speaker, Mr. Jason Wahlang (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi), spoke on the impact of the Armenian genocide on the Armenian diaspora(s) and its various attempts to get the massacre globally recognized.
The Hamidian massacres, also known as Armenian massacres, in 1894-96 resulted in 80,000-300,000 casualties under the rule of Sultan Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire. Later on, a large number of Armenians were killed on 24 April 1915, under the leadership of Committee of Union and Progress, with the intellectuals being the prime targets.
“Armenians, both in their homelands and abroad, have been striving for hundreds of years to get the mass killing recognized. Turkey, the successor state of Ottoman Empire, has refused to recognize the genocide so far. The genocide has developed a strong sense of belongingness between the homeland and the diaspora”.
Mr. Wahlang went on to mention the four major Armenian diasporas- American, Russian, Indian and French Armenians. The diaspora is quite old and it mostly developed for trading purposes.
USA has the largest share of Armenian diaspora with about 1.5 million people. The successful inclusion of Armenians in the socio-cultural and political life of America is well known with many being part of the Senate. More migration continues due to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Various organizations like the Armenian National Committee of America, Armenian Assembly of America and Armenian General Benevolent Union are actively working for ensuring accountability for the genocide and also protecting the survivors of it.
Women more prone to cultural crisis caused by migration
Bijender Singh and Susmita Prija (Indira Gandhi University, Haryana) spoke about how exposure to different cultures leads to a certain psychological crisis among migrants as they find it difficult to come to terms with multiple realities which are mostly distinct. By engaging in a close reading of Githa Hariharan’s The Thousand Faces of Night and Amitav Ghosh’s The Shadow Lines, the two presenters shed light on the cultural crisis faced by two women characters in the novels who chose to migrate at a certain point in their life.
In The Thousand Faces of Night, Devi pursues her education in USA before returning to India. Although she is in a relationship with Dan, an Afro-American, her cultural upbringing prevents her from choosing Dan as prospective husband. Returning back to India exposes her to further crisis as the culture here is often at loggerheads with that in USA.
“While the American culture taught her to value her individual rights, the patriarchal mindset of family and the society in India reduces her to just a puppet in the hands of her husband, Mahesh.”
Ila is the narrator’s cousin in The Shadow Lines and she has lived mostly inforeign cities throughout her early life. As a result, she prefers to have complete freedom from her native culture. But it remains elusive when she returns back to India. She is judged by her family for her actions and gets called “greedy little slut” by Thamma. Back in London, she is subjected to racial harassment which furthers her cultural marginalization.
Migration robs both the women of a stable cultural identity. They are unable to be accepted by any particular culture which results in serious identity crisis.
Internalization of Western hegemony still visible in contemporary fiction
Colonial stereotypes which assert white domination over the non-western ‘other’ are still visible in works of literature. Dr. Satyanarayan Tiwari and Dr. Ajay K Chaubey (National Institute of Technology, Uttarakhand) used on this aspect of some contemporary novels like Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss(2006) and Arvind Adiga’s The White Tiger (2008).
“Certain diasporic writers like Desai and Adiga are reconstructing colonial stereotypes. It is a general belief that the 21st century India is still devoid of infrastructure, peace and progress. Indian writers are still trying to shed the exotic stereotypes attached to them by conforming to Western notions of India”, said Tiwari.
Both the novels fail to engage with the cultural reality of their settings and end up indulging in Oriental stereotypes about India. The binaries of east/west and civilized/uncivilized are reiterated which ends up justifying Occidental supremacy over the Orient.
‘Becoming’ and not ‘Being’ is the condition of migrant identities
The last speaker, Abdul Hamid Sheikh (University of Kashmir), provided an enlightening perspective on the complexity of identity formation in an increasingly globalized world. The unrestricted flow of goods, ideas, bodies and cultures have challenged the sanctity of the modern nation-state, leading to a polyphony of worldviews available to different communities worldwide.
“Our identity is constituted by both local and global culture. It is hybrid in nature. While we have moved towards a more unified world-culture, fragmented cultural hybridity of local cultures have also become part of our reality”.
The diaspora communities are characterized by a sense of belongingness towards one place while simultaneously remembering and desiring for another because of the multiple layers of relations between these communities, the different nations they reside in, and their countries of origin. This relationship is further complicated by the relationship between diaspora communities all over the world.
Modern technology, transport and international job markets have made communication between migrants and their origin countries possible. As a result, their identities are always in a flux and have to be negotiated and re-negotiated to resolve the precariousness of their situation.
Diaspora Studies emerging as an independent, vibrant discipline
Prof. Vivek Kumar concluded the enlightening session with enriching scholarly remarks. He said that Diaspora Studies is still trying to find its place as an independent discipline. While interdisciplinary approach has been the foundation of this particular discipline, certain germane and original concepts like victimization, homeland, acquired homeland and displacement have also emerged with time.
Prof. Kumar pointed out that there is a need to differentiate between group and individual mobility as they present different perspectives of knowledge before us.
“Further, we need to be aware of the Western dichotomy syndrome which always tries to analyze the reality in binaries. Such a framework of thinking often fails to capture the complexities of the diaspora identity”.
Subhadip Mukherjee is currently pursuing his PhD at The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. His interest areas include Postcolonial studies, Transnationalism, Cosmopolitanism, Diaspora literature, Literary theory, Indian writing in English and Climate fiction. Twitter: @SubhadipMuk.