Seminar Organized  : International Seminar on
          “Nationalism, Transnationalism & Indian Diaspora”
           January 27-29, 2004       

The term ‘diaspora’, originally used for the Jewish externment from its homeland, is now applied as a “metaphoric designation” for expatriates, refugees, exiles and immigrants. It refers to the work of exile and expatriates and all those who have experienced unsettlement and dislocation at the political, existential or metaphorical levels. Significantly enough, the diasporic Indian writing in English covers every continent and part of the world. It is an interesting paradox that a great deal of Indian writing in English is produced not in India but in widely distributed geographical areas of indenture (‘Girmit’) i.e. Indian diaspora in the South Pacific, the Caribbean, South Africa, Mauritius, and the contemporary Indian diaspora in the U.S.A., the U.K., Canada and Australia. Frankly speaking the very idea of “India” needs to be understood properly when contextualized in the backdrop of cultural study of the Indian diaspora. Given the context does “India” mean a nation – state or a rashtra, larger civilizational identity? And, if it connotes “South Asia”, then how do South Asian diasporans articulate themselves today? These are certainly the issues which deserve serious attention. 

Nationalism has always been interrogated by transnationalism in the Indian diaspora spread across the globe. With a population of about twenty million people in more than eighty countries in the world, “the sun never sets on the Indian Diaspora” claims the Government of India Report of the High Level Committee on Indian Diaspora published by Ministry of External Affairs in December 2001. The sheer size, diversity, affluence, common Indian origin, cultural heritage and attachment to India of this diaspora compelled the government of India to establish a national day as Pravasi Bhartiya Divas on January 9, 2002. This day thus recognises and legitimises its connection with India by establishing a law for “dual citizenship”. Globalism, informationalism and the rise of the Network Society, are some of the many other emergent contributing factors to this phenomenon.

Some diasporic Indians/ People of Indian Origin like Homi J. Bhabha, Bhikhu Parekh, Salman Rushdie, Farookh Dhondi, V.S. Naipaul, A. K. Ramanujan, Vijay Mishra, Satyendra Nandan, David Dabydeen, M.G. Vassanji, Meena Alexander, Rohinton Mistry, Uday Singh Mehta, Amitav Ghosh, Sudesh Mishra, Anshuman Mondal, Shusheila Nasta, Jumpha Lahiri, and many more have attempted to map this virgin territory in their own ways. Noteworthy among the many Indian scholars who have attempted to study this phenomenon are: J.C. Sharma, Partho Chaterjee, Pravin Sheth, Jasbir Jain, Kapil Kapoor, Kavita Sharma, Makarand Paranjpe, Manjit Inder and Om Juneja. 

The Seminar will attempt to bring together some of these people to deliberate on the following issues. Like the earlier two seminars conducted by us, the papers of this Seminar will also be published in a volume. 
   · Theoretical frames for nationalism, transnationalism and diaspora
   · Informationalism ( Infomation Technology ) and Indian diaspora
   · Role of Indian Diapsora in globalism, management and economy
   · Indian nationalism: threats, challenges, opportunities
   · Terrorism, nationalism and role of diasporic communities
   · History: its erasure, construction and reconstruction
   · Dual/ multi nationalism: opportunities and challenges
   · Identity formation, ethno-cultural movements and Indian diaspora
   · Religion, nationalism, transnationalism and diasporic formulations
   · Economics of diaspora
   · NRI Remittances: opportunities, challenges, threats
   · Government departments for diasporic management
   · Home, homeland, nationality in the diasporic Imaginary
   · Writers/artists/film makers of Indian origin: representation of India
   · Films on/ about diaspora: nationalism/ transnationalism
   · Three/ four generations of North American diaspora
   · Linguistic challenges and opportunities in the diasporic communities,
   · Global Polity, Transnational Democracy and Indian Diaspora 
   · Brain gain, brain waste and brain drain: opportunities and losses to

     Indian nation
   · Social capital, cultural capital, national and transnational identities 

Apart from this one can also concentrate on the individual writers and their works in the light of emerging diasporic paradigms in the postcolonial space.