The Indian Diaspora : Historical and Contemporary Context: Essays in Honour of Professor Chandrashekhar Bhat

Contents: Preface. Introduction. I. Old Indian diaspora: 1. Language loss, language maintenance: the case of Bhojpuri and Hindi in Mauritius/Vinesh Hookoomsing. 2. Urbanism and death of religion: strategies of religious manifestation in modern society/P. Pratap Kumar. 3. Ethnicity, class, state and conflict: the 'Indian question' in Natal, South Africa/Brij Maharaj. 4. The relevance of life history writings as a methodological technique of social inquiry: the autobiography of Munshi Rahman Khan in understanding the Indian diaspora/Mohan K. Gautam. 5. The Indian diaspora in the West Indies/Caribbean: a cultural history of triumphs and tribulations/Kumar Mahabir. 6. Transforming diaspora: familiarity with alien terrains/Karthiyaini Devarajoo. II. New Indian diaspora: 7. Migration of highly skilled Indians: case studies of IT and health professionals/Binod Khadria. 8. Circulation of Indian IT professionals to Hyderabad and beyond: integrating India in a global workforce/Eric Leclerc. 9. Globalization, national autonomy and non-resident Indians/Margaret Walton-Roberts. 10. Is there a second diasporic generation? The case of India's Hyderabadis/Karen Isaksen Leonard. 11. Indian diaspora: emerging issues in the context of greater India/V. Basil Hans. 12. Meena Alexander's Nampally road: female subjectivity and the ethics of care and commitment at the shock of return/Dolores Herrero. Index.

"This book offers rich insights into the historical processes, dynamics of contemporary global forces and influences on identity issues, generational differences, and issues arising in the Indian diaspora. The first section addresses the issues of struggle for retention of cultural identities of Indians in the old diasporic countries. The second section focuses on the contemporary context of migration of Indians to the developed countries and their contribution to the economy of host societies as well as to the country of origin. This book will be useful not only to sociologists but also to scholars working in the fields of anthropology, political science, geography, history, literary, cultural ethnic and migration studies." (jacket)