Migrant Identity at the Intersection of Postcolonialism and Modernity

Abstract

The post-Partition Indian state has become the place of residence for significant undocumented migrants from erstwhile East Bengal as well as present-day Bangladesh. The presence of these migrants has led to contentious questions of citizenship, residency, identity, belonging and legality. Migrants' identity is caught between the dilemma of pre-existing cultural markers based on differences of language, religion, caste, and the modernist approach, based on progressive civic ideals, which seeks to homogenise those identities under the category of homogenising citizenship. Moreover, such categorisation does not acknowledge the subjective experiences of different identity groups. The present paper drawing on fieldwork in West Bengal argues that the identity of migrants from East Bengal and Bangladesh is shaped by border making discourses, existing labour market transcending nation-state boundaries and religious identities. The universal marker of citizenship inside the space of nation-state does not do justice to the complex identities these migrants inhabit in the course of migration and everyday life both in the country of origin as well as the destination.