'Bombay, Our Cultural Heart': Rethinking the relation between homeland and diaspora

The relation between the notion of a primordial homeland and that of 'diaspora' has long been noted, and is considered by some to be indelible. It may well be the case, however, that when one distinguishes between the definitional and the operative levels, this association turns out to be...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ethnic and racial studies 2003-07, Vol.26 (4), p.662-683
Main Author: Falzon, Mark-Anthony
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bombay
Cosmopolitanism
Culture
Diaspora
Diasporic experiences
Ethnic Groups
Ethnic Identity
Ethnicity
Hindus
Homeland
Human ecology and demography
Identity
India
Mumbai
Mumbai, India
Nationalism
Pakistan
Race relations
Religious Cultural Groups
Return Migration
Sindhi people
Sindhis
Sociology
Sociology of migrations
Translocality
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The relation between the notion of a primordial homeland and that of 'diaspora' has long been noted, and is considered by some to be indelible. It may well be the case, however, that when one distinguishes between the definitional and the operative levels, this association turns out to be tenuous. In the case of Hindu Sindhis, a diasporic business community dispersed in over 100 countries, Partition in 1947 brought about the wholesale migration, particularly to Bombay, out of the newly-created Pakistan. Today, the primordial homeland (Sind) survives as little more than a nostalgic memory; instead, Bombay functions as a node that connects and organizes translocality - it is the 'cultural heart' of the cosmopolitan Sindhis. Regular visits to the city to take part in family occasions, to arrange marriages, to engage in conspicuous consumption, to invest in real estate, and to establish new business connections, serve periodically to bring together people from around the world and to foster a sense of Sindhayat , 'Sindhiness'.
ISSN:0141-9870
1466-4356
DOI:10.1080/0141987032000087352