Diasporic mobilisation and the Kashmir issue in British politics

Ellis, Patricia; Khan, Zafar

doi:10.1080/1369183x.1998.9976645

Cited by 21 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…The fact that Pakistan and the adjective Pakistani convey so many identities may signify that, nowadays, that land is the most evident term of self-ascription also for the young generation. Anthropologists' findings may tend to privilege local identities such as the Kashmiri (Ali 2003;Ballard 1996;Ellis and Khan 1998), but the data I collected in Bradford suggest that this is appropriate only in particular contexts.…”

Section: Return To Where?mentioning

confidence: 79%

The Myth of Return: Dismissal, Survival or Revival? A Bradford Example of Transnationalism as a Political Instrument

Bolognani¹

2007

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

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This article documents forms of 'homeland' attachment and analyses their significance among second-and third-generation British Pakistanis by comparison with the 'myth of return' that characterised the early pioneer phase of Pakistani migration to Britain. 'Homeland attachment' for young British Pakistanis is constituted through school holidays spent in Pakistan, participation there in life-cycle rituals involving the wider kinship network, and the older generation's promotion of the idea of Pakistan as a spiritual and cultural homeland. The article suggests that, for the pioneer generation, the 'myth of return' justified a socio-economically motivated migration. Yet for the second and third generations, 'homeland' attachments and the idea of a possible return to Pakistan represent, instead, a response to contemporary political tensions and Islamophobia. Thus, while 'myth of return' remains, for the majority, a myth, it has been revitalised and has a new political significance in the contemporary political context. The paper will first of all acknowledge the intersections between the two continents and analyse how homeland attachment is transmitted to younger generations through the organisation of the life-cycle. In the second part, attention will switch to the economic 'myth of return' of the pioneer generation and its transformation into a political issue with reference to contemporary global events.In the first extensive research on the idea of the myth of return, Muhammad Anwar discussed 'the mythology that [Pakistanis] are in Britain to save, invest and eventually return to their villages back home' as the cause of their 'resistance to change and Marta Bolognani is a PhD student in Sociology at

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Section: Return To Where?mentioning

confidence: 79%

The Myth of Return: Dismissal, Survival or Revival? A Bradford Example of Transnationalism as a Political Instrument

Bolognani¹

2007

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

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“…A case-based literature has emerged examining the political and economic contributions that diasporic communities -whether stateless or linked to a nation-state -can make toward what they call "home". Extant studies have explored their role in conflict perpetuation and resolution (Shain 2002), separatist wars (Shain and Shermann 1998;Ellis and Khan 1998;Wise 2004;Wayland 2004), the socioeconomic development of the homeland (Patterson 2006;Camroux 2008;Kapur 2010), and increasingly, democratization (Schmitz 2004;Koinova 2009). The transnational political influence of refugees has also received growing attention (Wahlbeck 2002;Van Hear 1998.…”

Section: Relevant Definitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Burma in Diaspora: A Preliminary Research Note on the Politics of Burmese Diasporic Communities in Asia

Egreteau

2012

Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs

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This research note focuses on the far-flung Burmese overseas communities, situating them into the wider diaspora literature. Drawing on extant scholarship on refugees, migrants and exiled dissidents of Burmese origin, it presents an original cartography of Burmese diasporic groups dispersed throughout Asia. It explores their migration patterns and tentatively maps out their transnational networks. It seeks to comparatively examine the relationships these polymorphous exiled groups have developed with the homeland. Two research questions have been identified and need further exploration in the context of the post-junta opening that has been observed since 2011: First, what comprises the contribution of the Burmese diaspora to political change and homeland democratization? This has been widely debated over the years. Despite a dynamic transnational activism, there is still little evidence that overseas Burmese have influenced recent domestic political developments. Second and subsequently, how can the Burmese diaspora effectively generate social and economic change back home: by “remitting” or by “returning”? This note argues that Burmese migrant social and financial remittances might prove a more viable instrument to foster development and democratization inside Myanmar in the short term than a mere homecoming of exiles and skilled migrants. This is a preliminary analysis that hopes to encourage further research on Burmese diasporic politics and their potential leverage as “agents of change”.

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“…The Kashmiri diaspora is imagined in terms of a nation. Now, associations in the UK campaign for recognition of a Kashmiri as distinct from an Asian, Pakistani or Muslim identity in British political and administrative life and engage in transnational politics relating to the Kashmir dispute (Ali 2003;Ali, Ellis and Khan 1996;Ellis and Khan 1998).…”

Section: Formation Of Diaspora As a Response To Critical Events And Smentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the first instance these are probably individual members of the imagined community, but in time collective agents are generally formed like associations, parties or community institutions, which carve a new discourse of community through which a particular diasporic imagination is negotiated (Sökefeld and Schwalgin 2000). For the Kashmiris in Britain, the local branch of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, the party that started the insurgency in Indian Kashmir, played a central role (Ellis and Khan 1998), but different associations like the British Kashmiri Association, or the Kashmiri National Identity Campaign, have also been established and produce the imagination of a Kashmiri community (Ali 2003). In the Sikh diaspora, transnationally organized associations like the World Sikh Organization, the Sikh Youth Federation and local gurudwaras (Sikh temples) with their 'community leaders' produce and reproduce the discourse of the (transnational) Sikh nation (Tatla 1999).…”

Section: Agents Of Diasporic Imaginationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mobilizing in transnational space: a social movement approach to the formation of diaspora

Sökefeld¹

2006

Global Networks

316

163

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In this article I suggest analysing the formation of diaspora communities as an instance of mobilization processes thereby countering essentialist concepts of diaspora that reify notions of belonging and the‘roots’of migrants in places of origin. Taking the imagination of a transnational community and a shared identity as defining characteristics of diaspora and drawing on constructivist concepts of identity, I argue that the formation of diaspora is not a‘natural’consequence of migration but that specific processes of mobilization have to take place for a diaspora to emerge. I propose that concepts developed in social movement theory can be applied to the study of diaspora communities and suggest a comparative framework for the analysis of the formation of diaspora through mobilization. Empirical material to substantiate this approach is mainly drawn from the Alevi diaspora in Germany but also from South Asian diasporas.

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Diasporic mobilisation and the Kashmir issue in British politics

Cited by 21 publications

References 0 publications

The Myth of Return: Dismissal, Survival or Revival? A Bradford Example of Transnationalism as a Political Instrument

The Myth of Return: Dismissal, Survival or Revival? A Bradford Example of Transnationalism as a Political Instrument

Burma in Diaspora: A Preliminary Research Note on the Politics of Burmese Diasporic Communities in Asia

Mobilizing in transnational space: a social movement approach to the formation of diaspora

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