Abstract
This chapter investigates developments in the Punjab–UK transnational space, a long-standing and extensive migration corridor. Within India’s diverse migration history, Punjab’s specificity is its particular historical connection with the UK, despite criss-crossing colonial and postcolonial migrations across the globe. We juxtapose field research in the UK and Punjab and show that transnationalism appears and works differently when viewed from either location—highlighting the differentially empowered nature of transnational space, as well as irresolvable ambivalences that are worked into transnational relationships. We reconsider the transnationalism paradigm through five interrelated arguments. We demonstrate the complexity of transnational space, which exceeds the binary sending–receiving country relationship that characterizes the literature. We find that transnationalism is not merely produced “from below” by the activities of migrants and diaspora, but is orchestrated and formalized by various arms of the Indian and British states. Moreover, illicit flows of people are also produced by the governance of migration. Transnational connectivity does not diminish individuals’ desire for a single, solid citizenship and nationality beyond the pragmatism attached with citizenship. Finally, we argue for historicizing of transnational networks and appreciation of the social relations of gender, generation, class, and caste by which they are cleaved.
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Abbreviations
- BNP:
-
British National Party
- ECR:
-
Emigration Check Required
- ECNR:
-
Emigration Check Not Required
- FCNR:
-
Foreign Currency Non Resident Account
- FDI:
-
Foreign Direct Investment
- FEMA:
-
Foreign Exchange Management Act
- HLCID:
-
High Level Committee on the Indian Diaspora
- IDF:
-
India Development Foundation
- IP:
-
Immovable Property
- IT:
-
Information Technology
- KIP:
-
Know India Programme
- MOIA:
-
Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs
- NGOs:
-
Non Governmental Organizations
- NRE:
-
Non Resident External Rupee Account
- NRI:
-
Non Resident Indian
- NRP:
-
Non Resident Punjabis
- OCI:
-
Overseas Citizen of India
- PIO:
-
Person of Indian Origin
- RBI:
-
Reserve Bank of India
- RHLCID:
-
Report of the High Level Committee on the Indian Diaspora
- SGPC:
-
Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandakh Committee
- SPDC:
-
Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children
- UNODC:
-
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
- VDC:
-
Village Development Council
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Acknowledgment
We are very grateful to our colleagues from the TRANS-NET project and to Virinder Kalra, University of Manchester, who gave us valuable critical feedback on this report at the final TRANS-NET meeting, December 3, 2010.
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Qureshi, K., Varghese, V.J., Osella, F., Rajan, S.I. (2012). Migration, Transnationalism, and Ambivalence: The Punjab–United Kingdom Linkage. In: Pitkänen, P., Içduygu, A., Sert, D. (eds) Migration and Transformation:. International Perspectives on Migration, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3968-0_2
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