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Understanding Diasporas: An Overview of Chinese and Indian Diasporas

Explore the historical significance, categorization, and distribution of Chinese and Indian diasporas, with insights into challenges, policies, and developments influencing these global communities.

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Understanding Diasporas: An Overview of Chinese and Indian Diasporas

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  1. Diasporas: General Perspectives and Overview Kee Pookong Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University kee@apu.ac.jp 5th DIVERSITY MATTERS a Commonwealth forum on cultural diversity Diasporas in the Commonwealth Monash Malaysia 19 – 20 November 2008

  2. Outline Conceptualizing “Diasporas” Importance of Diasporas Chinese and Indian Diasporas Challenges and Issues

  3. Evolution of the Concept • Dia speiro (Greek) = to scatter seed Greek colonial expansion: 800 - 600 BC • Jewish history = forced exile, victimization, myth of return 586 BC through Holocaust (1938-1944), Israel state (1948) and Present • African Diasporas 1960s -Forced dispersion, homelands • Recent liberal usages of the term Any form of real or imagined community

  4. Some Essential Characteristics • Dispersal in two or more countries • Memory of original homeland • Alienation, marginalisation or exclusion in host land • Relationship with kin in other diasporic communities • Preserve ethnic boundaries • Ongoing relationship with ancestral land • Idealization or discourse of return

  5. Diasporas – Typologies Displacement by causes (Robin Cohen, 1997) • Victim Diasporas • Jews, African、Armenian • Migratory Diasporas – Labor, Traders, Refugees • Chinese, Indian, Palestinian, Italian, Greek, Japanese • Ideological (Religious) Diasporas • Islam, Hindu, Sikhs • Imperial Diasporas • British, German

  6. Importance of Diasporas • An analytical concept: • History of human experience: dispersion, identity, longing, and return • A practical concept: • Of interest to states – political, economic, or cultural mobilization • International organizations – development • International relations

  7. Special relevance in a globalized world –Compression of time and space • Transmitters of funds and ideas • Global production networks • Production, distribution, consumption, R&D • Role in an Information Age • Information vs. Knowledge and Understanding • Mass migration (200 million “migrants”) • Size, direction, characteristics and timing

  8. The Chinese Diaspora(s)Long History of Chinese Migration Admiral Zheng He [Cheng Ho] – 1405-1433 Columbus’s St Maria

  9. 1834 Abolition of slavery Indentured labor 1842 Treaty of Nanjing Forced opening of Chinese ports Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882, USA White Australia Policy, 1901 Chinese Immigration Act, 1923, Canada Source: Adam McKeown, 2004, Global Chinese Migration, 1850-1940

  10. The Chinese “Diaspora(s)” • “Overseas Chinese” or “Chinese Overseas”? Chinese Categorization • Zhong Guo Ren (Chinese nationals) • 0verseas Chinese (Hua Qiao – Chinese Sojourners) • Chinese nationality • Huaren (Ethnic Chinese) • Chinese identity • Hua yi (People of Chinese Descent) • “Assimilated”, Inter-married

  11. Percentage of Direct Foreign Investments in China by Sources, 1994 Source: State Statistical Bureau, China, 1995 (see Encyclopedia of Chinese Overseas, 1998, Page 111)

  12. 1995 1996 1998 1997

  13. 1995

  14. Distribution (%) of “Chinese Overseas” in Selected Countries, 2003Estimated Total 37,500,000 Russia 0.53% Canada 3.89% UK 0.72% Netherlands 0.38% France 0.61% Germany 0.27% USA 8.49% Japan 1.28% Myanmar 2.71% Vietnam 3.25% Laos 0.46% Thailand 19.18% Cambodia 0.86% Philippines 2.92% Malaysia 16.09% Brunei 0.01% Singapore 6.99% Indonesia, 19.62 % India 0.38% Australia 1.56% New Zealand 0.34% Source: The Almanac of Overseas Chinese Economy, Taipei (in Chinese) various years

  15. Chinese Diaspora: Number and Percentage in Selected Countries, 2003 Russia 200,000 (0.14%) Canada 1,458,000 (4.6%) USA 3,186,000 (1.1%) Japan 479.000 (0.3%) UK 271,000 (0.45%) Netherlands 143,000 (0.88%) France 229,000 (0.38%) Germany 103,000 (0.13%) Myanmar 1,018,074 (2.1%) Vietnam 1,220,000 (1.53%) Laos 172,933 (3.2%) Thailand 7,193,000 (11.0%) Cambodia 321,180 (2.4%) Philippines 1,096,169 (1.3%) Malaysia 6,036,000 (24.1%) Brunei 5,579 (14.4%) Singapore 2,621,000 (76.8%) Indonesia, 7,362,000 (3.4%) India 141,600 (0.01%) Australia 585,000 (2.93%) New Zealand 127,000 (2.67%) Source: The Almanac of Overseas Chinese Economy, Taipei (in Chinese) various years

  16. Chinese Diaspora Population Distribution (%), 2003Number: 37.5 Million

  17. Indians Diasporas • Mass migration started with the colonial era in the 19th century • some 28 million Indians emigrated , 1846-1932 some 4.5 million settled in Malaya and Burma between 1882 and 1937 • Mostly working class – coolie migration (plantation workers, labourers) • Post-Independence: migration to Britain • Since 1970s: highly skilled migrants to the USA, Canada and Australia

  18. Policy Development • High Level Committee on Indian Diasporas Report, 2001 • Indian Diaspora Day – Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, January 9th • Overseas Citizenship of India Act, December 2005 – dual citizenship to PIOs (Persons of Indian Origin)

  19. Indian Diaspora: Distribution (%) in Selected Countries, 2001Total Estimate: 16,943,580 Canada 2.84% UK 7.08% Netherlands 1.28% USA 9.91% Kuwait 1.74% Bahrain 20.22% Qatar 10.77% UAE 5.61% Saudi Arabia 8.85% Oman 1.84% Myanmar 17.13% Malaysia 9.83% Singapore 1.81% Kenya 0.6% Trinidad Tobago 2.95% Guyana,2.33% Suriname 0.89% Fiji 1.99% Mauritius 4.22% Reunion Is. 1.3% South Africa 5.9% Australia 1.12% Source: The Indian Diaspora, High Level Committee on Indian Diaspora, New Delhi, 2001 http://indiandiaspora.nic.in/contents.htm, 2001

  20. Indian Diaspora: Number and Percentage in Selected Countries, 2001 Canada 851,000 (2.84%) UK 1,200,000 (2.11%) Netherlands 217,000 (1.36%) USA 1,678,765 (0.6%) Kuwait 295,000 (13.09%) Bahrain 130,000 (20.22%) Qatar 131,000 (24.95%) UAE 950,000 (32,76%) Saudi Arabia 1,500,000 (6.98%) Oman 312,000 (13.57%) Myanmar 2,902,000 (6.24%) Malaysia 1,665,000 (7.27%%) Singapore 307,000 (9.72%) Kenya 102,500 (0.36%) Trinidad Tobago 500,600 (64,59%) Guyana 395,350 (51.01%) Suriname 150,000 (34.25%) Fiji 336,829 (42.1%) Mauritius 715,756 (60.35%) Reunion Is. 220,055 (31.02%) South Africa 1,000,000 (2.23%) Australia 190,000 (1.02%) Source: http://indiandiaspora.nic.in/contents.htm, 2001

  21. Indian Diaspora Population Distribution (%), 2001Number: 16.9 Million (20 million?)

  22. Chinese and Indian Diaspora:Compared • 37 million • 80% in Southeast Asia (Nanyang – South Seas) • Historically more varied – merchants, traders, and labourers • Greater degree of Chinese integration and assimilation –Christianity, intermarriage; forced assimilation • 20 million • Wider scatter, including Africa, Caribbean, Middle East • Historically, majority were plantation worker sand labourers • Less predominantly male (under British regulated indentured system); arranged marriages; larger numbers;; Hindu religion; caste

  23. Relative homogeneity • Buddhist, Ancestor Worship, secularization • Common written language • Regional (Dialect) identities Greater diversity • Aryan – Dravidian • Religion (Hindu, Sikh, Parsi, Muslim, Buddhist) • Language (Hindi, Tamil, Punjabi, Telugu) • Caste • Regional identities

  24. Popular Cultures Chinese Cultural “Centre”, “Semi-Periphery”, “Periphery” • Centre: China • Secondary Centres: Taiwan, Hong Kong • Tertiary Centres (sub-cultures): Singapore, San Francisco, Sydney-Melbourne Bollywood – Bombay Kollywood - Kodambakkam, Madras (Tamil) Indo-Caribbean Diaspora Literature

  25. Day Night Deng Xiaoping邓小平: 1904-1997 Deng Lijun 邓丽君:1953-1995

  26. les than 5% of the Chinese counterparts Less active • Chinese Overseas investment (FDI) in China • Active global diasporic meetings/conferences of clan, dialect , and business groups • World Chinese Entrepreneurs Conventions (since 1991); • Hakka, Teochew and other dialect group conferences

  27. Convergence in Chinese and Indian Diaspora Experience • Migration and the highly skilled, professional and entrepreneurial especially to the USA, Canada, Australia (and Singapore) • Two-stage or multi-stage migration: re-migration • Return migration and circular migration (brain circulation)

  28. 1998 2006

  29. RE-MIGRATION Estimates of Overseas Chinese Population in Selected South-East Asian Countries (Various Years) and Proportions of Chinese Among Immigrants to Australia from these Sources (2001 Census)

  30. Challenges and Issues • Conceptual • Semantic - Analytical Rigor Proper Noun quasi-Proper Nouncommon noun “Oxymoronicdefinitions” (Dufoix2003) – • “Queer diaspora”, “Soccer diaspora”, etc

  31. State Responses to Ethno-cultural and Religious Diversity Destination country • Extermination • Assimilation • Selective Inclusion • Multicultural • Global or Local Source country • Encourage integration to local community • Diaspora mobilization for political party or national interest • Extraterritoriality International Relations: Identity Politics; Diasporas as Non-State Global Actors

  32. Jus Sanguinis, Jus Solis, or? • Jus Sanguinis – Birthrights by descent (blood) • Jus Solis – Birthrights by place of birth • Dual Nationality • Individual Choice?

  33. The Three “Ds” of Migration The Migrant Experience : on-going Dirty, Demanding, Dangerous Continued “proletarianisation” of diaspora members in the South & North vs. “professionalisation” in the North (Bhikhu Parekh et al, 2003) The Main Causes of Migration Demography, Development,Democracy • Diasporas – as a democratization, development, and demographic change agents

  34. Rabindranath Tagore, 1861-1941 http://www.floridastateparks.org/hughtaylorbirch/images/visitors/HTB-GiantBanyanTree-RandyGardner.jpg

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