The Cohesion of the Indian Diaspora

This article addresses the question of what binds the Indian diaspora together. Like most diasporas it is heterogeneous, for several reasons: most notably that the migrants originate from different areas of India and represent different regional cultures, that their emigration occurred in different eras and that they moved to various places. In most of these societies, the Indians and their descendants succeeded in constituting distinctive ethnic groups. However, the disparities in migration selection, cultural descent, host societies and historical epochs have muddied the waters, meaning that these ethnic groups do not necessarily feel akin to one-another. Nevertheless, they do feel related. The question that presents itself is how this bonding between the diverse segments is forged. This article argues that the connection occurs through glocalization. The concept of glocalization refers to the absorption of global cultural elements by local culture. Commonly noted examples of glocalization include the worldwide ubiquity of MacDonalds and Coca-Cola. With regard to ethnic groups, it could be argued that glocalization has been involved in the definition of ‘home’, ‘locality’ and ‘community’. However, the role of the actors as regards how they form their homes and communities, as well as how localities are shaped and how they are connected with the diaspora, is rarely addressed in the scholarly literature. The present article elucidates this process using the example of the Dutch Hindustanis, a diaspora community within the Indian diaspora.