Community, Empire and Migration : South Asians in Diaspora/edited by Crispin Bates. New Delhi, Orient Longman, 2003, xiv, 319 p., tables, figs., maps, $26 (pbk). ISBN 81-250-2482-4.

Contents: 1. Introduction: community and identity among South Asians in Diaspora/Crispin Bates. 2. ‘They cannot represent themselves’: threats to difference and so-called community politics in Fiji from 1936 to 1947/John D. Kelly. 3. Nested identities: ethnicity, community and the nature of group conflict in Mauritius/Ari Nave. 4. The development of communalism among East African Asians/Michael Twaddle. 5. Imagining? Ethnic identity and Indians in South Africa/Ravi K. Thiara. 6. Migration, migrant communities and otherness in twentieth-century Sinhala nationalism in Sri Lanka (up to Independence)/Nira Wickramasinghe. 7. Sojourners and settlers: South Indians and communal identity in Malaysia/Amarjit Kaur. 8. Communitarian identities and the private sphere: a gender dialogue amongst Indo-Trinidadians (1845-1917)/Sumita Chatterjee. 9. Hyderabadis in Pakistan: changing nations/Karen Leonard. 10. Mohajirs in Pakistan: a case of nativisation of migrants/Mohammad Waseem. 11. Bridging the gulf: migration, modernity and identity among Muslims in Mumbai/Thomas Blom Hansen. 12. Relationships between Muslims and Hindus in the United States: Mlecchas versus Kafirs?/Aminah T. Mohammad. Index.

This volume examines the history, politics and anthropology of migration in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, as well as in numerous overseas locations (such as Fiji, Africa, the Caribbean and North America) where South Asians migrated during and after the colonial period. It addresses the meanings of ‘community’, and the important and contentious issue of the connections between migration, problems of identity, and ethnic conflict, from a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective.

"While addressing the role of colonial policies of ‘divide and rule’ in providing both solidarities and discord, the volume depicts the very different circumstances in which contemporary South Asian migrants now find themselves, placing particular emphasis on the ways in which migrants have adapted and integrated (whilst maintaining cultural traditions) and the ways in which new forms of ‘post-colonial’ identity have emerged. Above all, the volume questions the historical origins of communal conflicts and the extent to which they are a response to present-day circumstances. The volume clearly argues that there are many forms of religious, regional and caste identities amongst South Asian migrants, which need not find themselves in conflict with one another or the host societies. When confrontation does arise, it is often due to inequalities, competition and officially-sponsored apartheid. Whilst some examples warn against complacency, the overall conclusion of the volume is optimistic in celebrating the agency and volition of migrants, their ability to adapt—despite adversity—and to assert new and often unexpected identities independent of their forefathers and the prejudices of others.

"The volume has particular significance in the light of recent conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Indian Ocean, Fiji, Indonesia, North America and elsewhere amongst diasporic South Asian communities."