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This book analyses the metaphysical and poetical notions and the processes of 'rooting into a culture' and 'routing out of a culture' in the context of South Asian diaspora in Australia. These diasporic narratives are often characterised by bifurcated and dislocated identities that exist in a liminal space, in-between two identities, two cultures, and two histories. Yet, 'home' remains, through acts of imagination, remembering and re-creation, an important reference point. The author argues that a clearer notion of politics of location is required to distinguish between the different kinds of 'dislocation' the immigrants suffer, both psychologically and sociologically. The diaspora is Australia is an under-studied topic, and this book fills a lacuna in South Asian diaspora studies by analysing and calling upon a wide range of works in this field from historical, anthropological, sociological, cultural, and literary studies.
List of contents
1. Introduction: Roots and Routes.- 2. South Asian Diaspora in Australia: History, Research, and Literature.- 3. An Element of Romanticization: Sensory and Spatial Locations.- 4. A Journey through Places: Politics of Spatial Location.- 5. Real, Imagined, and Mythologized: (Re)Presentation of Lost Home.- 6. Acts of Remembering and Forgetting: Reflections through Nostalgia.- 7. An Australian Learning Experience: Prejudice, Racism, and Indifference.- 8. Another World, Another Future.- 9. Conclusion: Thoda Indian, Thoda Aussie.
About the author
Amit Sarwal is a Producer at SBS Hindi Radio in Melbourne, Australia. He is also an Honorary Associate Professor of RMIT University and the Founding Convenor of Australia-India Interdisciplinary Research Network (AIIRN). He was a postdoctoral fellow at Deakin University and has also taught as Assistant Professor at the University of Delhi. He has many books to his credit, prominent being: Salaam Bollywood (Routledge, 2016), Labels and Locations (CSP, 2015), Bollywood and its Other(s) (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), and Wanderings in India (Monash University Press, 2012).
Summary
This book analyses the metaphysical and poetical notions and the processes of ‘rooting into a culture’ and ‘routing out of a culture’ in the context of South Asian diaspora in Australia. These diasporic narratives are often characterised by bifurcated and dislocated identities that exist in a liminal space, in-between two identities, two cultures, and two histories. Yet, ‘home’ remains, through acts of imagination, remembering and re-creation, an important reference point. The author argues that a clearer notion of politics of location is required to distinguish between the different kinds of ‘dislocation’ the immigrants suffer, both psychologically and sociologically. The diaspora is Australia is an under-studied topic, and this book fills a lacuna in South Asian diaspora studies by analysing and calling upon a wide range of works in this field from historical, anthropological, sociological, cultural, and literary studies.
