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| Connecting with and valuing India's diaspora |
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| Feb 14, 2010 Published in ideas
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| Keywords: culture, diaspora, india, nation, nri
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 In only eight short weeks leading up to the high-profile and dazzling Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) Convention 2010 Woodapple mustered our energies and skills to create a new and powerful Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre (OIFC) site. This has placed us in a doorway ready to greet the 24 million plus people of India's diaspora welcoming them into a partnership with their nation of origin for the benefit of both parties.
A public private partnership between the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) with the aims of promoting investments and business partnerships into India, this project offers a unique opportunity to look past websites and deeply into the psychological and emotional profile of the Non-Resident-Indian (NRI) and the Persons of Indian Origin (PIO).
A key aim from the outset was designing a great user experience for the site visitors. It was vital that we spent a lot of time trying to understand the Overseas Indian; Who this person, what is his demography, his geography and his education? How does he pursue his identity? How does his identity determine his impact? What are his beliefs and attitudes towards his adopted country, what is he expecting from his motherland and what makes him come back? In how many ways does he nurture his native village? What future is he searching and seeking in his erstwhile motherland? What is the sense of wealth that he brings in? Who does he want to share it with? How does he want to grow it? Where does he invest his money? What does he come back looking for?
Through numerous prototypes and designs we realised that for the project to be successful the experience at the core had to be true to the Indian Government’s overarching objective of “deepening engagement” with the Diaspora. Over the last couple of years, the Government has pursued this exchange of dialogue, believing overseas Indians to be both products of and drivers towards globalisation. They are people who represent a reservoir of knowledge and resources in diverse fields – economic, social and cultural – and this reservoir must be drawn upon as partners in development. This meant, we knew who we were designing the experience for, the members of India's diaspora.
As we did this, we came squarely upon three key issues:
- What is a nation?
- Physical separation is not the same as emotional
- Many threads weave the fabric of India
What is a nation?
Nation is more than a territory or political grouping it is also a set of people sharing some deep defining traits. India is a diverse nation with a multiplicity of languages spoken, a huge contrast in types of landscape, cultures and ways of life yet there is a thread that binds it together and makes it India. The nation of India it is not limited by geography it is also a shared set of histories and cultures. The pull of that connection is perhaps even stronger in the diaspora community as the differences in the variety of India become less meaningful separated from the physical nation.
There are over 24 million people of Indian descent living outside India. If the Indian diaspora was a nation in itself it would fall somewhere between North Korea and Saudi Arabia in terms of population. This is a significant mass of people and while like any physical nation this group contains many diverse interests and aims the forces that bind this population are real and strong.
The nature of the Indian diaspora is slightly different to some others due to the size of India itself. The diaspora population would be India's 16th largest state, just behind Punjab. In contrast the Irish diaspora population dwarves the national population (diaspora 60 million, national population 4.5 million) the mass of the Indian nation still anchors the culture.
Physical separation is not equal to emotional separation
This is an interesting aspect of the diaspora, in India itself there is a much stronger sense of state identity than in the diaspora. Within the embrace of explicit spacial and cultural boundaries of the nation differences are very important, but separated from the nation of origin the differences within the wider set of nationhood become less important and connections are emphasised. This becomes even more important as temporal distance joins physical distance as subsequent generations are born away from the nation of origin.
A common pattern is for first-generation emigrants to hold fast to their native culture, the second-generation to make a strong effort to assimilate their new culture and subsequent generations to create a combination culture that is more than just a simple blend of their origin and location.
For the emigrating generation the separation can be keenly felt. There are sharp memories of their nation that may contrast greatly with where they find themselves. There is a tendency to look back towards the mother country as a method of coping with the alien situation they now find themselves.
The second generation often finds itself in an ambiguous situation. They are children of a new nation. The first generation born on new shores. Yet their parents have strong ties to a land that may feel very foreign to this new generation. Acculturation is a way to cope with this slightly insecure situation and can lead to explicit rejection of some aspects of the mother culture, particularly the most apparent to others such as language and dress. The predominant desire is to belong to the nation of their birth.
For subsequent generations, having had the good fortune to have been born after the upheavals that effected the previous generations have been dealt with to some degree, there is greater freedom and perhaps even an opportunity to play with the liminality of their situation. This leads to a new culture without an explicit geographic anchor. This can afford a great deal of creativity and freedom to create a distinct culture that is of both the nation of origin and the nation they are located in.
Many threads weave the fabric of India
Whether through holding fast, repudiation or reinvention all these people are connected to the native inhabitants of their nation. This connection takes place in and perhaps even defines an extended notion of nationhood. This space can be a significant arena to examine what a nation is. While within the unambiguous national embrace of the country itself the questions of what makes one a member are easily glossed over the diaspora community can be a perspective glass to find what it is that really includes one in the set of the nation.
The connection is present as a thread connecting all these people wherever they may be and there is great power in recognising and examining it. This thread of Indian nationality encompasses vast swathes of the earth, a diverse experiences and skills and somehow they come together to weave the fabric of the nation of India.
By explicitly connecting this whole community of India there is much to be gained for all. For India the diaspora are a further expansion of the talent, skills and creativity that are India. For the members of the diaspora there is a chance to connect tangibly with the aspects of themselves that are pulled by the gravity of India, to see themselves as part of a long and proud history and to grasp the opportunity to engage with their heritage and effect the future of India. |
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