On the grounds of the global Indian: Tracing the disjunctive spaces between diaspora and the nation-state

Abstract

This article assesses the shifting relations between diasporas and nation-states through an ethnography of the affective dimensions contained in the figure of the “global Indian.” This new subject refers to the integration of elite segments of the Indian diaspora for state projects of economic liberalization and Hindu populism. Drawing on fieldwork in Toronto, I argue that the global Indian’s production is rife with contesting claims over the nation. Rather than integration, a new disjunctive bordering of national identity and belonging between homeland and diaspora space have emerged. This argument is developed by first emphasizing ethnography’s importance in illuminating the everyday lives of diasporic subjects, before turning to the geographies of distance and proximity between India and the Indian diaspora. The majority of the article uncovers the grounds of the global Indian through the narratives of diasporic subjects. Their narratives speak to the contested terrain of membership that lurks below the official discourse on diaspora strategies.