Gujarati Asians in East Africa, 1880-2000: Colonisation, de-colonisation and complex citizenship issues

Summary In this paper, I argue that despite the general belief to the contrary, there is a great deal of continuity in the history of the colonial and post-colonial practice of citizenship in the Indian Ocean region. This debate is usually described from the perspective of the state and its representatives. Indeed, more often than not, the position of the migrants themselves is not discussed. This paper aims to fill this gap. In the case of the South Asians in East Africa, I will demonstrate that migrants were able to negotiate their own space for identity formation and accepting and changing formal citizenship options. Indeed, they were also able to negotiate with colonial officials and, after the 1960s, Britain, Canada, India and even the United Nations about defending their rights as citizens or agreeing new regulations for international migration and citizenship. The debate on citizenship and belonging has become the centre of academic and public debate since the 1990s in Europe and the US. However, historical cases in colonial contexts might shed some light on long-term continuity in such discussions

Industrialisation in India, 1850-1947: Three Variations in the Emergence of Indigenous Industrialists.

In this paper I describe three patterns in the emergence of Indian Entrepeneurs Indian large scale industries, 1850-1930. While doing this I focus on three variables: (1) the colonial attitude towards indigenous business, especially the transformation towards large scale industrialisation1; (2) the religious, occupational and regional background of industrialists to be; and (3) whether or not they belonged to a ‘minority’ group. While these patterns all led to the successful entry of Indian businessmen into large-scale industries, they differ in the explainable importance to be attributed to the different variables. This paper starts with a description of the entry of Marwari businessmen into the jute industry in Calcutta. This will be followed by the success of the Parsi community in the cotton industries of Bombay and finally the story of the Hindu industrialists in Ahmedabad. In the final section, these three patterns of industrialisation will be compared

Clothing Matters: Asian-African Businessmen in European Suits 1880-1980

Summary Asian businessmen in East Africa supplied goods, services and capital to African, Arabic, Asian and European customers, traders and other businessmen. In this complex cultural environment, they had to choose what to wear on any given what occasion. Expressing dignity, wealth, trust and reliability are key variables in making cross-cultural business contacts and building an appropriate image. When they arrived in East Africa between 1880 and 1920, Hindus and Muslims alike wore their own traditional attire, headwear and footwear, or no shoes at all. When they left Africa – around 1970- they wore a typical European business suit, including a tie and shined black shoes. In this article I explain the changing dress habits of Asian businessmen in East Africa as a result of –among others- the change in political environment from European colonies to African states, and the shift in economic preferences from dealing with India to dealing with Europe. Nevertheless, these factors should not be seen as a social economic structure imposed from above. This article shows that adopting a European dress style was a way to demonstrate an ability to modernise, move with the times. In the context of Asians in East Africa, it should be emphasised that European clothes are an indication of their „progressive‟ ideas, but must also be seen as a critique of their own culture

After Shaking his hand, start counting your fingers. Trust and Images in Indian business networks, East Africa 1900-2000

In this study I examine how ‘ethnic’ trading networks are created and recreated, but may also fracture and fall apart. This occurred among some Indian groups in East Africa, who initially strengthened their economic and cultural ties with India by maintaining intensive trade relations and taking brides from the homeland. However, after just one generation, their economic focus was on East Africa, Japan and the UK. Many of today’s well-off Indian businessmen in East Africa show little economic interest in India. In fact, Gujarati businessmen in East Africa created new, rather negative images of their counterparts in Gujarat. During the last century, their overall image of Indians in India was transformed from one of a ‘reliable family or community members’ to one of ‘unreliable, corrupt and, untrustworthy ‘others’

Disconnecting from home: contesting the salience of the diaspora

In this article I would like to present two conceptions of home in relation to peoples in the diaspora. The first is related to people who move on without returning to their ‘homeland’. It is the process through migration in which people disconnect from their homeland. Parminder Bhachu has coined this: twice migrants, people who do not move back to their homeland, but move on (Bhachu, 1985). Some even move further and may be coined ‘multiple migrants’ or ‘permanent migrants’. Nevertheless they continue to create a home away from home. In the second conception of home and homeland, we acknowledge that home is not a natural calling. Jay and his family move on to the United Kingdom and later to the United States for two major reasons. I argue that the availability of networks is important, not the homeland as such. Nevertheless, many first and second generation people in the diaspora do share a strong connection with the motherland because of family relations, collective memories, and myths and identification with the nation. But what happens if they do reunite with their places of origin and family members? More often than not, after their arrival in their homeland they face ambivalent feelings. It is not the home they expected. It is a home that may be friendly, but different. This ambivalence is experienced not only by the returnee, but also by those who were left behind. We present a few of these examples in this article

Who May Represent the Country? Football, Citizenship, Migration, and National Identity at the FIFA World Cup

ABSTRACT The terms ‘citizenship’, ‘nation’, and ‘nationality’ contain different, albeit overlapping, meanings of belonging and identity. The history of the FIFA (Fed eration Internationale de Football Association) World Cup provides excellent examples and cases to unveil these meanings in different historical contexts. Three overlapping categories of historical realities are proposed to understand the historical complexities of migration, citizenship and national identity from a historical sports perspective. The first category considers diaspora teams, using the examples of Italy in 1934 and Morocco in 2018. The second category examines teams from expanding and dissolving states, exemplified by Germany in 1938 and Yugoslavia in 1990. The third category explores colonial and post-colonial realities, illustrated by Portugal in 1966 and France in 2018. The relationship among national belonging, citizenship, and migration challenges the self-evident notions of membership and belonging. The historical concepts of ius sanguinis (blood ties) and ius soli (territorial birthright) are well-known markers and symbols of national belonging and citizenship. In nation states, the feeling of belonging is created by membership in an ‘imagined community’, which is often self-evidently bound by these markers. The proposed historical categories partly legitimize and pave the way for diaspora and post-colonial football players who will become more visible in national teams at the World Cup in the future

Sport and nationality: towards thick and thin forms of citizenship

This study explores the relationship between national belonging, acquiring citizenship, and migration. Taking high profile examples from international sports events, it seeks to unveil the complexities behind the question: who may represent the nation? The historical models of jus sanguine (blood ties) and jus soli (territorial birthright) are well-known markers and symbols of citizenship and nationality. The study proposes an ideal-type model of thick, thin, and in-between forms of citizenship. This model clarifies and provides direction to the empirical understanding of ‘citizenship as claims-making’, as recently suggested by Bloemraad [(2018)