Many among Indian diaspora in US communal, casteist: Professor
By Express News Service |
Published: 16th March 2017 05:27 AM |
Last Updated: 16th March 2017 05:27 AM | A+A A- |
HYDERABAD:
The Indian diaspora in the Unites States may seem like a united lot of
migrants who moved to a foreign land. However, when you look closely, a
number of them are communal, casteist and have been agents propagating
violence, consciously or unconsciously.
This
is one of the aspects that came out as part of the public seminar held
at the Council for Social Development (CSD) where Bandana Purkayastha
presented her paper, Intersectionality : Which Margins? Which Context?
Professor of Sociology and Asian and Asian-American Studies, and head
of Sociology department at the University of Connecticut (UCONN), her
work on how the concept of intersectionality, which broadly takes into
consideration, race, class, gender, sexuality and nation and how all
these factors impact violence among migrant population in US.
Discussing
her findings, the professor started from defining the various spaces
where people are susceptible to violence, from home, in a domestic
setting to across countries and borders.
“The spatial context of immigrants and violence is constantly changing spatially. State sponsored violence that includes extreme surveillance, deportation and incarceration is one of the reasons. Increase of the use of technology, where virtual spaces are actually real, has blurred borders and there is constant surveillance. Migrants hardly have rights and they are not even in the position to exercise them,” the professor said.
“The spatial context of immigrants and violence is constantly changing spatially. State sponsored violence that includes extreme surveillance, deportation and incarceration is one of the reasons. Increase of the use of technology, where virtual spaces are actually real, has blurred borders and there is constant surveillance. Migrants hardly have rights and they are not even in the position to exercise them,” the professor said.
Vasanth Kannabiran, activist
and writer, bringing together the context of Purkayastha’s findings in
the Unites States with the Indian diaspora in the country, said, “The
most castiest and communal lot have been playing a major role in
manipulating what is happening in the country. Mushrooming of Hindu
funding organisations to propagate religious causes and ‘nationalist’
ideas that promote one ideology is an example of this violence.”
Purkayastha
concurred, adding that some students in the Unites States were looking
for funding for all sorts of activities. “There is no purpose for them
to look at the source of the funds and they pump in so much money in the
name of ideologies which are being redefined as the only ones that
primarily stir violence.”
Kalpana Kannabiran, director, CSD said that in the Indian context, intersectionality often expresses itself in the form of those people who, in the name of a vague understanding of a nation create violence.
Kalpana Kannabiran, director, CSD said that in the Indian context, intersectionality often expresses itself in the form of those people who, in the name of a vague understanding of a nation create violence.