Transnational Identities of the Global South Asian Diaspora in Australia, Canada, Aotearoa New Zealand, and South Africa, 1900s-1940s (Abstract)

My presentation will be on my new research project. It addresses a crucial issue in the modern world: How is identity formed by different populations living in communities distant from their original homelands? It will answer this question by analysing and comparing the historical forces that affected identity-formation of South Asian migrants in four diasporic communities under British rule. It will pose three main research questions: 1. Was the rhetoric about the equality of all British subjects adopted by South Asian migrants in the British Empire’s self-governing Dominions (Australia, Canada, Aoteatoa New Zealand, and South Africa) in the first half of the twentieth century? Building on my previous research (Smith and Mann, 2016) and related scholarship on Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, it will compare the experiences and the rhetoric in the four countries. 2. Did the experience of living in predominantly White countries encourage migrants from the Punjab and other regions in South Asia to adopt a common pan-South Asian identity? 3. To what extent did inter-ethnic and inter-faith relations in South Asia impact the South Asian diaspora in the self-governing British Dominions?