South Asian Diaspora Narratives

South Asian Diaspora Narratives

Amit Sarwal South Asian Diaspora Narratives Roots and Routes 123

Amit Sarwal SBS Hindi Radio, Deakin University Melbourne, VIC Australia ISBN 978-981-10-3628-6 ISBN 978-981-10-3629-3 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-3629-3 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016963169 The print edition is not for sale in India. Customers from India please order the print book from: Rawat Publications, Satyam Apartments, Sector 3 Jain Temple Road, Jawahar Nagar, Jaipur 302 004. ISBN of the Indian edition: 978-81-316-0790-9 The Author(s) 2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publishers, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publishers, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publishers nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publishers remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Printed on acid-free paper This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

For Reema and Mishank

Acknowledgements The development and completion of this research would not have been possible without the financial support of the Australian Government. I would like to thank the Endeavour Asia Programme (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations) that enabled me to visit Monash University, Clayton, during 2006 2007. I would like to thank the staff of New South Global International Projects who managed the Endeavour Asia Programme. My special thanks to Dr. Andrew Hassam and Dr. Tseen Khoo for hosting me at the National Centre for Australian Studies and School of Political and Social Inquiry, respectively. I also thank Prof. Rae Frances (Dean of Arts, Monash University) and the staff of School of English, Communication and Performance Studies and Matheson Library (Monash University). I am indebted to Dr. Andrew Hassam for encouraging me to apply for the Endeavour Asia Award. His friendly advice, constructive criticism, and a first-hand introduction to the Australian way of life helped me formulate the theoretical framework for this study. Without his friendship and initiation, I would not have made so many Australian friends with such ease! This book would not have been possible without the institutional support of Centre for Citizenship and Globalisation (CCG), Deakin University, and feedback of my fellow researchers: Prof. David Walker, Prof. Fethi Mansouri, Dr. Vince Marotta, Dr. Yin Paradies, Dr. Danny Ben-Moshe, Dr. Benjamin Isakhan, Dr. Michele Lobo, Dr. Sally Percival Wood, Dr. Amelia Johns, Dr. Liudmila Kirpitchenko, Dr. Masa Mikola, Ms. Paula Muraca, and Ms. Cayla Edwards. I owe wholehearted thanks to Prof. Santosh K. Sareen, Prof. Makarand Paranjape, Prof. Harish Narang, Prof. G.J.V. Prasad, Prof. Kapil Kapoor, Prof. Saugata Bhaduri, Dr. Navneet Sethi, Dr. R.K. Verma, Dr. S.N. Sharma, Dr. Meeta Mathur, Dr. Tasneem Shanaz, Dr. Rita Mehra, Dr. Usha Shourie, and Dr. Usha Sharma for their invaluable support and recognition of my work. I greatly benefited from their lectures, discussions, and encouragement. I must also thank the staff of CES: Rawat ji, Radhe ji, Bhagwati ji, and Karamchand ji for their administrative help. vii

viii Acknowledgements Thanks also to the editors and reviewers of South Asian Diaspora, Lemuria, Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, Dialogue, and Journal of the Department of English (Vidyasagar University). Special thanks to Prof. David Lowe, Dr. Ajaya Kumar Sahoo, Dr. T.P. Mukhopadhyaya, Dr. Tarun Tapas Mukherjee, Dr. Indranil Acharya, Dr. Anida Basu Roy, and Mr. Shalaj Mittal (Readworthy Publications), for permitting me to reprint my research papers as chapters in this book. It is a pleasure to thank the many people who made this research possible with their wise advice at various junctures of time: So many people have provided assistance to me in countless big and small ways at various junctures of time: Late Prof. J.V. D Cruz, Late Prof. Bruce Bennett, Prof. C.T. Indra, Prof. Anisur Rahman, Dr. Eugenie Pinto, Prof. David Lowe, Prof. Hema Sharda, Prof. Yasmine Gooneratne, Prof. Bill Ashcroft, Prof. Stephen Muecke, Prof. Vijay Mishra, Prof. Brij V. Lal, Prof. Satendra Nandan, Prof. Richard Nile, Prof. Marika Vicziany, Prof. Malati Mathur, Prof. Didier Coste, Prof. Paul Sharrad, Prof. Devleena Ghosh, Prof. Marie de Lepervanche, Prof. John Webb, Prof. Laksiri Jayasuriya, Dr. Chandani Lokugé, Dr. Lachlan Strahan, Dr. Kama Maclean, Dr. Richard Hosking, Prof. Ghassan Hage, Dr. Sonia Mycak, Dr. Toni Johnson-Woods, Dr. Geetha B., Dr. Nathan Hollier, Dr. Margaret Allen, Dr. Suvendrini Perera, Dr. Lisa French, Dr. Larissa Jane McLean Davies, Dr. Sissy Helff, Dr. Michiel Baas, Dr. Alice Ingram, Dr. Sharon Rundle, Dr. Bernard Whimpress, Dr. Selvaraj Velayutham, Dr. Manas Ray, Dr. Pramod Nayar, Dr. Russell Blackford, Dr. Indranil Acharya, Dr. Nicholas Birns, Dr. Nathanael O Reilly, Dr. Sophie Loy-Wislon, Dr. Agnieszka Sobocinska, Dr. Vikrant Kishore, Dr. Jaydeep Sarangi, Dr. Goldie Osuri, Dr. Sharon Rundle, Dr. Jean-François Vernay, Dr. Nalin Sharda, Dr. Mala Pandurang, Dr. Ishmeet Kaur, Dr. Alex Naraniecki, Mr. Sunil Badami, Ms. Malathy Anandavalli, Mr. Anupam Sharma, Ms. Kumud Mirani, Mr. Chris Raja, Ms. Lily Petkovska, Mr. Parichay Patra, and many other scholars with whom I had the pleasure and honour of working. I am grateful to everyone and especially to those whose names are not mentioned here! Thanks also to my colleagues at the University of Delhi, Dr. Vijay Laxmi Pandit, Dr. Jafri S. Abbas, Dr. Vrasha Gupta, Dr. Chander Shekhar Singh, Dr. Bharti Sharma, Dr. Harish Dahiya, Dr. Saurabh Mishra, Dr. Rajesh Kumar Jha, Dr. Gautam Chakrabarti, Dr. Sumita Pal, Ms. Gorvika Rao, Mr. Ved Mitra Shukla, Ms. Kanch V. Arora, Ms. Pawan Oberoi, and Mr. Mithuraaj Dhusia. Personally, I am grateful to Suboohi, Ehsan, Anthea, Fiona, Rakesh, Tupur, Ashrut, Smriti, Jyothi, Phani Raj, Alex, Sonja, and all other friends who have made me feel at home in Australia. My thanks and best wishes must also go to my dear friends from JNU, especially Gunjeet, Pradip, Aniruddha, Deepa, Swati, Rhythma, Shantanu, Amrita, Parul, Aditi, Swapnil, Divya, Deepti, Amit Ranjan, Prateek, Moola Ram, Geetharani, Sami, and Devapriya. Very special thanks to my dearest friend Dr. Aneeta Rajendran for her guidance and advice during the various stages of this research. Many thanks to members of Australia-India Interdisciplinary Research Network (AIIRN), Indian Association for the Study of Australia (IASA), and Asian

Acknowledgements ix Australian Studies Research Network (AASRN) for their support and feedback during various conferences. Tons of thanks to Ms. Rini Barman (Delhi) for copyediting and fine-tuning this book. To the publishing team, who have handled the editorial and production work on this volume with professional skill and finesse, a very big thank you! My love and thanks to my parents, parents-in-law, brothers, my entire extended family (in India, United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and New Zealand) and all my in-laws for their constant care and unconditional love. Most importantly, I would like to express my most profound love, appreciation, and thanks to my wife, Reema, for her generous praise, advice, encouragement, guidance, proofreading, and love. I would be lost without her! I dedicate this book to Reema, our son Mishank, and the writers of South Asian diaspora in Australia. Melbourne 2016 Amit Sarwal

Contents 1 Introduction: Roots and Routes... 1 Locations... 3 Defining Racism... 5 Defining Diaspora... 21 Defining South Asianness: Social and Theoretical Identities... 28 Chapter Divisions... 33 2 South Asian Diaspora in Australia: History, Research, and Literature... 39 South Asians in Australia: A Brief History.... 41 Researches on South Asian Diaspora in Australia.... 49 Sociological and Anthropological Research... 50 Literary Research... 60 Conclusion... 67 3 An Element of Romanticization: Sensory and Spatial Locations... 71 Sensory Versus Spatial Locations... 71 The Element of Romanticization.... 73 Conclusion... 79 4 A Journey Through Places: Politics of Spatial Location... 81 Politics of Spatial Location... 81 5 Real, Imagined, and Mythologized: (Re)Presentation of Lost Home.... 97 6 Acts of Remembering and Forgetting: Reflections Through Nostalgia... 109 Introduction... 109 Acts of Remembering and Forgetting... 111 Conclusion... 120 xi

xii Contents 7 An Australian Learning Experience: Prejudice, Racism and Indifference... 123 Prejudice, Racism and Indifference... 124 Conclusion... 131 8 Another World, Another Future... 135 9 Conclusion: Thoda Indian, Thoda Aussie... 147 Bibliography... 159 Index... 181

About the Author Amit Sarwal is an Endeavour Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Deakin University and a Producer at SBS Hindi Radio in Melbourne, Australia. He is also the Founding Convenor of Australia-India Interdisciplinary Research Network (AIIRN). He was an Honorary Associate Professor of RMIT University, a post-doctoral fellow at Deakin University and has taught as Assistant Professor at the University of Delhi. He has many books to his credit, prominent being: Salaam Bollywood (Routledge, 2016), Labels and Locations (CSP, 2015), Bollywood and its Other(s) (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), and Wanderings in India (Monash University Press, 2012). xiii