The Indian diaspora in Africa : the commodification of Hindu Rashtra
Abstract
A new approach to India's diaspora has taken place within the wider context of the adoption, in 1991, of a neoliberal economic policy framework. In recent years, Indian private business enterprises have led the way in Africa and this has had an important impact on the state's conceptualization of the diaspora. New Delhi's elites actively seek to embrace an objectified 'globalization' as a means to benefit powerful externally oriented fractions and the diaspora's value is measured in its contribution to this project. There has been a determined attempt to commodify the diaspora to serve particular Indian economic interests. However, the current government's Hindu chauvinism makes the very question of what constitutes a genuine Indian rather narrow. Two factors thus dominate current policy: commodification and categorization. The diaspora in South Africa is discussed as an example where these dynamics can be acutely observed.
Citation
Modi , R & Taylor , I 2017 , ' The Indian diaspora in Africa : the commodification of Hindu Rashtra ' , Globalizations , vol. 17 , no. 6 , pp. 911-929 . https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2017.1287451
Publication
Globalizations
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1474-7731Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This work has been made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created accepted version manuscript following peer review and as such may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2017.1287451
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