8

GLOCAL IMAGINARIES CONFERENCE

Migration and Diaspora stream

Group 1 - Diaspora, Identities and Migration Maggie ONeill, Phil Hubbard and Misha Myers : Trans-national Communities: Art, Politics and Policy This paper builds upon our separate and collaborative performative arts based research that seeks to better understand lived experiences of exile and belonging; rene methodologies; provide a space for stories to be told; and in turn for these stories to feed in to policy and praxis! A central aspect of this ork is the importance of orking at the intersection of ethnography and arts practice"visual culture # ith artists and community arts organisations$ through ethno-mimesis and conversive wayfinding to produce ne kno ledge%s and counter hegemonic texts that challenge identity thinking and foster a radical democratic imaginary! This paper furthers this ork by focusing upon research e have undertaken ith respectively: residents in Plymouth #&isha$ and residents in the 'ast &idlands and four community arts organisations #&aggie and Phil$! (e also discuss the ork that e conducted together at the intersections of art, politics and policy!

Kate Pahl, ndy Pollard and !ahir "a#i$% Translating )b*ects: &aterial Cultural Practices in the +omes of the Pakistani Community in ,otherham and in an 'xhibition This presentation ill dra on a year-long study funded by the A+,C%s -iasporas .dentities and &igration programme! /ollo ing a series of ethnographic intervie s ith families of Pakistani origin in ,otherham, 01, the research team developed ith the families a museum exhibition based on ob*ects in their homes that instantiated narratives of migration! This exhibition as held at ,otherham art gallery in &arch 2334 and a ebsite as developed by pro*ect team artist, 5ahir ,afi6! This ebsite as then used to create a set of family learning resources called 7'very ob*ect tells a story%! 'merging from the coding of the intervie s and the collection of the ob*ects as a focus on hat could be called 7dialogic ob*ects%, that is, ob*ects that meant one thing in Pakistan, and another in the 01! /or example, a thick cotton covering men ore in the Pashtun areas of Pakistan as clothing became used as duvets on beds in

2 ,otherham! &eanings of things shifted across diasporas, and ere described using different linguistic terms! 'thnographic intervie s uncovered key themes! These included a focus on gold, textiles, and home decorating practices! The researchers% taken for granted conceptions of material cultural practices ithin the 9ritish Asian communities ere unsettled through re-examining meanings around these themes! The presentation ill include a reflection on the museum exhibition and ho that, in turn, reflected back the material cultural practices and identity narratives of the Pakistani community in ,otherham!

Group & ' Mo(ing )ub*e+ts% Gender, Identity and Home )hanthini Pillai and Gana,umaran )ubramaniam: 9et een .maging and Poetic .magination: &alaysian .ndian -iasporic (ritings The narratives of diaspora are often rooted in folk memory and most significantly in the stories inherited from family! Articulations of the experience of the &alaysian .ndian diaspora are not very different in the orks of most riters hose creative imaginary is interlaced ith such a heritage! /or a very long hile, the literary representation of the &alaysian .ndian diaspora has rested in the creative grasp of 1 : &aniam! +o ever, there are a couple of riters of &alaysian .ndian descent ho have recently emerged in the contemporary literary scene and they are namely ,ani &anicka and Preeta :amarasan! All three riters are linked by a creative imaginary that focuses on the representation of the &alaysian .ndian diasporic experience! This paper investigates the characteristics of the modes of creative imagination reflected in the novels of the three riters, mainly The Return #&aniam: 8;<8$, The Rice Mother #,ani &anicka : 2332$ and Evening is the Whole Day #Preeta :amarasan : 233<$, ith the intention of determining hether a distinction can be gleaned bet een 1 : &aniam, the riter ho is homebound, and the t o for hom &alaysia is no more home, ,ani &anicka # ho no lives in =ondon$ and :amarasan # ho has settled in /rance$! .t must be noted that it is not the intention of this paper to assess the creative genius of these riters nor does it seek to establish a hierarchy in their creative stature! .nstead, it ishes to establish hether

@ the distinctions that emerge are linked to issues of locations of nationhood, of ho much &alaysia is home and ho much she is memory!

)reele,ha Nair: 'ngendering the :ri =ankan Tamil -iaspora in Paris (omen migrants% contribution to the creation and continuance of a vibrant cultural and ethnic :ri =ankan Tamil diasporic group in and around Paris is understated! Tamil diaspora is understood as gender-neutral and the individual migrant as male! This is especially significant because of the background of ethnic conflict bet een Tamils and :inhalese in :ri =anka! .t is, therefore, important to engender the Tamil diaspora in order to ackno ledge the presence of omen in them and recogni>e their contribution to ards economic and cultural lives of the migrants! Conventional patrifocal values give very little acceptance of omen in public space among the Tamil community! This is despite the fact that the identity of the Tamil diaspora is built around the cultural spaces that have both sacred and secular practices in families and +indu temples here omen%s participation is essential!

Group - - Ne. /on#igurations% "oots, Mobility and Mas$uerade "enu,a "a*aratnam% /rom ,oots To &obility: =ocating ?e Configurations here Poetry meets Travel and &igration The diaspora discourse, in general, ith a certain amount of irony has become a valued repository of the contemporary global society !.t has informed and familiari>ed the orld ith values of diversity, tolerance and co-existence despite colliding effects of cross-culturalism! The contemporary times, post - ;"88, has produced an unprecedented largescale migration hich is on the one hand utterly unsettling and on the other, is profoundly shaped by globali>ation, advanced technology of travel and communication, resulting in an incredibly 7intensified compression% #,obertson 8;;2: <$! Conse6uently, issues of identity, difference and multiplicity have all received a rene ed manner of engagement! &y interest primarily lies in ho contemporary poetry participates in and responds to this radically altered, mobile condition of

E the orld characteri>ed by teeming multiplicity and da>>ling eclecticism!

The diaspora literature in the late 8;A3s as predominantly a feature of the postcolonial mostly foregrounding issues of marginality, identity, dispersal, displacement, exclusion and 6uest for roots! /ocussing on the significant shift ithin the diaspora from roots to mobility and by locating the transitional points of the change as demonstrated in the ork produced by poets ranging from -erek (alcott to Brace ?ichols, &oni>a Alvi to Cackie 1ay and Patience Agbabi to =emn :issay, the paper aims to stimulate a discussion on the ne attitudes, concepts, aesthetics and politics of diaspora and migration! The paper on the hole ill consider ho migration has re- shaped 9ritain as nation of devolved cultures highlighting the fluidity of identity, heterogeneity, and resistance to exclusivity and assimilation at the spaces here poetry meets travel and migration!

Mauri+e 0ottomley: .n :earch of ,ollo ,ollo Ahmed is a mysterious figure, a Buyanese riter and occultist ho orked in 'ngland in the thirties and forties! +is book on magic DThe 9lack ArtD remains one of the most idely read introductions to the sub*ect! +o ever his novel . ,ise: The =ife :tory of a ?egro #=ondon 8;@4$ has vanished ithout trace, neither featuring in histories of (est .ndian literature nor in studies of 9ritish literature of the 8;@3s! .t is a semi-autobiographical tale of migration and features, among other things, fascinating descriptions of an idealistic (est .ndian and his reactions to the small and impoverished black communities =iverpool and =ondon! Ahmed has vanished even more thoroughly than the novel! Though an associate of both Aleister Cro ley and -ennis (heatley, biographical information is, to say the least, sketchy! Ahmed mas6ueraded as an 'gyptian and this in itself is interesting! (hile . ant to focus on the novel, . also ant to place Ahmed in the fringe subculture of herbalists, magicians, racetrack tipsters and hustlers that many African and (est .ndian migrants of the pre-(ar era found themselves obliged to *oin in order to make a living! &y interest is in both the marginalised status of the people and their chosen DprofessionsD but also the use of mas6uerade by such characters as Prince &onolulu, 'rnest

A &arke and ,ollo Ahmed! Ahmed himself mas6ueraded as an 'gyptian and is still regarded as such by the only circles in hich he is remembered! This paper ill dra on the concept of the 9lack Atlantic and the theorisation of masks and mas6uerades as developed by +ouston 9aker and other post-colonial theorists! .t ill ho ever be largely historical and anecdotal as prime aim is to rescue Ahmed and others like him from obscurity!

1oo 2ee Hyun: :taging 7/ictive% 'thnicity: Contemporary :cenes The figure of Asia in contemporary 0!:! metropolitan spaces does not al ays signify in the ay conventional institutions of meaning intend! .mages of Asia and Asians before the 8;<3s tended to represent the 7then% and 7there% in contrast to the metropolitan present! .n comparison, the metonymic link bet een the imaginative geography 7Asia% and ob*ects exported from Asia and Asian"Asian American body images circulating in cities is stronger than before! /or example, Asian diasporas and more recent immigrants are depicted as a trope of entering the nation! Cohannes /abian attributes the linkage bet een meaning and space to the art of memory in the (estern tradition! /abian explains that F7places #topos$% ere thought of as products of the art of memory, not as actual images of the content of a speech!G .n this vein, . raise the 6uestion of ho e understand the contemporary phenomenon that the figure of Asia functions as a site of transposition in terms of citi>enship, gender, and ethnicity! .n the field of economy, an increase in Asian immigration, the economic gro th in Asian countries, and flexible labor markets have changed the status of Asians" Asian Americans! Het studying this phenomenon from a critical perspective on representation remains to be explored! 9y attending to the shifting ideas of Asianness, in this paper, . analy>e ho young generations of Asian Americans enact self in the process of encountering Asian -iasporas and the figures of Asia! Aisanness is something that Americans of Asian descent cannot fully identify ith, existing beyond the realm of the visible in ?orth American culture! Through the analysis of the ork of artists like ?ikki =ee, &argaret Cho, and Baye Chan, . contend that this sense of familiar strangeness points to the potential of Asian American performance for addressing the othering of Asianness in metropolitan spaces!

Group 3 ' Migrations, Identity and 4or, 2aurie /ohen, M N "a(ishan,ar and 1o Duberley: )ld Careers and 'merging 'conomies: .ndian ,esearch :cientists% Pursuit of Career )pportunity and the Construction of -iasporic .dentities This paper focuses on .ndian scientists I a group for hom there is a tradition of global mobility! 9ased on the career narratives of scientists in the 01 and .ndia, e dra on careers, migration and diaspora literatures to explore ho .ndian scientists account for their career development, and their experiences of migration in the pursuit of success! /ollo ing Jertovec%s #8;;4$ analysis of diaspora as social grouping, cultural production and identity e argue, first, that .ndian scientists ere ell a are of a socially ratified career path that led them into international research! :econd, scientists% continued links ith .ndia #both professional and personal$ serve as an empirical criti6ue of and contribution to current debates on brain drain"circulation! Third, respondents% sense of .ndianness and global citi>enship, and the complex hybrids that resulted from their interplay, ere at once seen as po erfully contributing to and constituted by their patterns of career thinking and enactment!

0aris 5l,er: /rom the 7Bastarbeiter% to the 7'thnic 'ntrepreneur%: .magining .mmigrants in 9erlin :pace is not an ontologically given entity; on the contrary as Cames Clifford #8;;4$ argues, in reference to &ichel de Certeau, it is discursively mapped and corporeally practiced! 9erlin has not been an exception of this formulation throughout its history! Considering this historical background, the paper ill explore the particular conditions for the emergence of Fethnic entrepreneur #ship$G in 9erlin, relying on the history of immigrants from Turkey since the beginning of 8;K3s! At the beginning of 8;K3s, 9erlin elcomed its FBastarbeiterG from Turkey! The foreigner as able to enter only by approving the conditions that the host had already concluded! As guests, ho ere not meant to stay, they ere seen as temporary, conditional and speechless! According to the political rationality, their presence as a state of exception! Although the government issued the Auslnderstopp #the order banning

4 all recruitment of foreign orkers from non-''C countries$ in ?ovember 8;4@, the number of immigrants from Turkey increased during the 8;43s and 8;<3s! +ence, the FBastarbeiter,G once the symbol both for minimi>ing social and political costs and maximi>ing economic profits, had turned into a category of social concern, fear and risk that needs to be dealt ith, cared for and integrated! At the core of these discussions, 9erlin started to experience businesses run by immigrants and simultaneously the political reasoning began to define a political value to this particular image of an immigrant, i!e! Fethnic entrepreneur,G since the middle of 8;<3s! As an enterprising individual, the Fethnic entrepreneurG, is a reflection of competitive, ambitious, participating, calculating, selfregulated, self-responsible and cooperative immigrant in a orld of declining profitability of mass-production industries and increasing crises of social elfare policies! Considering this political rationality, the paper ill illustrate hat is concealed and revealed ith the image of an Fethnic entrepreneurG!

Group 6 ' Migration, /ulture and Identity 0idisha 0aner*ee% Capturing .mpermanence, /inding the :elf: The Trope of Photography and -iasporic .dentity /ormation in Chumpa =ahiri%s :tory ema and !aushi" .n the long story F+ema and 1aushikG that comprises Part .. of Chumpa =ahiri%s most recent collection #naccustomed Earth$ e find the recurrent trope of photographs and photography! 1aushik, the child of immigrants, leaves for 9ombay at the age of nine ith his parents and returns to Cambridge after seven years! 'ven as an adolescent, e see him photographing everything! =ater hen his mother dies of cancer, his father puts all her photos in a shoebox, seals it and hides it behind a closet! )ut of sheer curiosity, his step sisters open the box and look at the pictures! 1aushik is appalled and leaves the house that same night ith the photos! +e can%t thro them a ay, but buries them in a beautiful spot above the ocean! As an adult, 1aushik becomes a photo*ournalist ho visits ar torn areas documenting the destruction ith his camera! .n my paper . ish to analy>e this trope of photography in the story and posit a relation bet een the desire to photograph and the diasporic

< condition! As a ar correspondent based in ,ome and sent on assignment to :outh America, Africa and the &iddle 'ast, 1aushik becomes the 6uintessential translocated citi>en of the orld, occupying a number of fractured spaces! +e practically severs all relations ith his originary home #.ndia$ as ell as his diasporic home #the 0:$! +e does not return to either place for years and feels no need to do so! FAs a photographer his origins ere irrelevant,G 1aushik thinks! +e thus becomes a romantic ho has no home outside of memory! . ish to argue that =ahiri%s use of the trope of photography belies 1aushik%s pride in his lack of rootedness! Photographs capture a fleeting moment and the transitoriness of the moment that is memoriali>ed in a photograph, creates a sense of the sacred! . argue that 1aushik%s vocation as a photographer counters the unrootedness of his diasporic condition! Although he lives a life of temporariness, his bags al ays packed and his passport in his pocket, his photographs symbolically signify a search for origins and roots, a yearning for stability, further heightened by his identity as a hyphenated second generation immigrant!

1ohn Gi(en% The +ere and There of Things: :#h$ifting /ragments of a ?arrative .dentity F. have such admiration for people ho can recount their lives in autobiography, because the connections are so complicated! . ould never be able to straighten it outG #Cohn Cassavetes$! This presentation ill explore the fragmented and performative 6ualities of memory and identity! Adopting a semi auto"biographical perspective and using multi media materials the presentation ill invite the vie er to sift through and 7create% their o n interpretation of these autobiographical fragments! 9y creating a series of discrete but related 7thumbnails% each ith its o n storied hinterland the presentation attempts to dra the vie er into a series of speculations about the relationship of these narrative fragments to the various lives that left these traces! 9ased on a series of family photographs together ith audio and video recordings the material is digitally manipulated and interpreted through the use of poetry together ith musical elements derived from voice and speech fragments!

"u,sana Ma*id: Placing the Pakistani -iaspora: -iaspora :pace in Ayub 1han -in%s East is East

; LM!both spatiality and location have to be reconceived once e consider the departure from ithin, the dispossession that demands immobility!L #9utler N :pivak, Who %ings the &ation-%tate' 2334$ This paper offers a critical re-evaluation of the politics and potentialities of urban spaces in post- ar 9ritain! (ith a focus on the Pakistani diaspora, . consider early moments of :outh Asian experience in 9ritain, and explore the shifting debates surrounding migration, culture and identity hich emerged ith the reunification and settlement of Asian families during the early 8;43s - a pattern of migration carrying a different resonance in public discourses than the earlier phase of predominantly male migration! 'mploying 9rahLs concept of Ldiaspora spaceL #8;;K$ - defined as Lthe point at hich boundaries of inclusion and exclusion, of belonging and otherness, of LusL and LthemL, are contestedL, and a model usefully emphasising the entanglement of genealogies of dispersion ith those of settlement - the second part of this paper offers an analysis of Ayub 1han -inLs play East is East #8;;K$! :et in 8;43s :alford, both the play script and its later cinematic adaptation direct attention in particular to migrant spatial practices! At once inside and outside the 7nation%, the presence of the Pakistani im"migrant is sho n to both challenge and be challenged by social constructions of the LproperL ordering of space and spatial practices! . argue that this Ldeparture from ithinL of the Pakistani diaspora challenges norms about ho the cultural geographies of ?orthern cities are framed and represented, and demonstrate ho the same geographical space can come to articulate different histories and meanings, ith an aim to opening up to 6uestion the means through hich space is socially produced and contested!

Group 7 ' Multi-Mediated 8ngagements .ith Ne. Publi+s and /ommunities in Ireland 9Panel: This panel foregrounds in and through the practice of media production #film, animation and photography$ an innovative series of cross-sectoral print and broadcast media pro*ects bet een cultural theorists, media practitioners, migration ?B)s and racialised minorities in .reland! Through the presentation of multi-locale ork conducted under the aegis of the /orum on &igration and Communications #/)&AC:, !fomacs!org$ ith migrant, refugee and asylum communities, the panel contributions underscore contrasting methodologies honed in

83 creative practice and ethnographic methods! /)&AC: is a collaborative public media pro*ect comprising seven partners and extended net orks reaching and engaging diverse audiences through the production of film, photographic, digital storytelling, radio, animation and print stories on the topic of immigration in .reland and beyond! =ed by the Centre for Transcultural ,esearch and &edia Practice # !dit!ie$, /)&AC: partners comprise immigration and protection"asylum ?B) organi>ations, together ith the multicultural print and media outlet, Metro Eireann( The paper by anthropologist and cultural theorist Blenn Cordan presents the first systematic exploration of the :ikh presence on the island of .reland, through the combined use of portraiture, life histories and ethnographic observation of the lived experiences and narratives of people often perceived as 7)ther% by members of the general public I especially since ;"88! -ra ing on the adaptation of an ?B) archived case study, the director of /)&AC:, Oine )%9rien, critically profiles an animated film series titled 7Abbi%s Circle and its accompanying print media primary school 7learning resource%, hich *ointly document, dramatise and communicate the complex 6uestion of immigrant 7family reunification%! A))i*s +ircle renders audible and visible, hat ,oger ,ouse #2332$ calls the 7transnational migrant circuit% I spaces linked through familial, social and economic ties, comprising multiple yet interconnected net orks and affiliations! ,esponding to the absence of ethnographic films engaging directly ith the labour conditions, civic"political participation, daily rhythms and cultural practices of migrant sub*ects in .reland, Alan Brossman%s paper reflects on his t o co-directed feature-length films ere To %tay #233K$ and ,romise and #nrest #233;$! The films comparatively narrate the stories of t o non-'0 /ilipino economic migrants, their agential efforts at collective political mobilisation under the aegis of migration advocacy groups and trade unions, further addressing the translocalised expression of migratory aesthetic practices #-urrant and =loyd 2334$, and the gendered"classed contingencies of long-distance motherhood #:ala>ar ParrePas 2338$! The paper advocates a critical and timely convergence bet een slo -paced, on the ground, longitudinal ethnographic in6uiry, allied to a politici>ed documentary practice, informed by cultural studies methodologies, in response to accelerated and unprecedented in-migration into .reland from Africa, Asia and eastern 'urope during the past decade! Glenn 1ordan ;ine O0rien lan Grossman