Abstract
Out of 25 million people comprising the Indian Diaspora, around 3 millions are located on the African continent. People of Indian Origin (PIO) in Africa live in Anglophone, Francophone, Lusophone and Arabic-African countries, the outcome of past migration to almost all former colonial powers’ territories in Africa. Geographically, they are concentrated on the Eastern coast of the African continent and in the Indian Ocean countries, but they are spread in Central, West and Northern Africa as well. They emigrated during ancient times as traders, during colonial times as domestic slaves, indentured workers (in huge number), free travellers, businessmen and construction workers. Following the independence of India, a good number of Indians moved to Africa as high-skilled professionals, business entrepreneurs and, in some cases, as wageworkers. Most of them were economically and professionally successful in their new location. They occupy disproportionately high economic, professional and, in some countries, political positions. In some cases, the Indian Diaspora was very welcomed and integrated smoothly, like in Mauritius, which is the only country outside of India where People of Indian Origin are in political power since 1968. The integration did not go as well in other countries such as in Uganda when the entire Indian community was expulsed in 1972.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
ManilalMaganlal Doctor (28 July 1881–1888 January 1956) was an Indian-born, London educated lawyer and politician, who travelled to numerous countries of the British Empire, including Fiji, Mauritius and Aden, providing legal assistance to the local ethnic Indian population. He met Gandhi, who asked him to go to Mauritius, where he represented Indo-Mauritians in court and edited a newspaper, The Hindustani. Later he shifted to Fiji.
References
ADB (African Development Bank). 2011. The role of the Diaspora in Nation building: Lessons for Fragile and post-conflict countries in Africa. Tunis.
Africa Diary. 1972. 4–10 October. Cited in Anirudha Gupta. 1974. Ugandan Asian, Britain, India and Commonwealth. African Affairs 73(292):312–324.
AU (African Union) Commission. 2009. Strategic Plan 2009–2012. http://www.au.int/en/sites/default/files/Strategic_Plan2009-2012.pdf.
Benedict, Bourton. 1961. Indians in plural socity. London: HMSO.
Berns-Mcgown, Rima. 2008. Redefining “Diaspora”. The challenge of connection and inclusion. International Journal 63(1): 3–20.
Bhat, Chandrashekhar. 2003. India and the Indian Diaspora: Inter-linkages and expectations. In Indian Diaspora: Global identity, ed. Ajay Dubey, 16. Delhi: Kalinga Publications.
Bhatia, Prem. 1973. Indian Ordeal in Africa. New Delhi: Vikas Publication.
Brubaker, Rogers. 2005. The ‘Diaspora’ diaspora. Ethnic and Racial Studies 28(1): 1–19.
Carment, David, and D. Bercuson. 2008. Introduction. In The World in Canada ed. Carment and Bercuson, 6–7. Montreal & Kingston: McCill-Queen’s University Press.
Cohen, Robin. 1997. Global diasporas: An introduction. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Dubey, Ajay. 2000. India and experience of Indian Diaspora in Africa. Africa Quarterly 40(2): 72.
Dubey, Ajay. 2008. India’s Diaspora Policy. Indian Journal of Foreign Affairs 2(2): 125–147.
Dubey Ajay. 2011. India and the Indian Diaspora. In Handbook of India’s international relations, ed. David Scott, 255–264. London: Routledge.
Economic Editor’s Conference. 2004. Ministry of finance . November 17–18, quoted in indiastats.com.
Government of India. 2001. Report of the high level committee on the Indian Diaspora. New Delhi: Ministry of External Affairs.
Government of India. 2010. Annual report. New Delhi: Ministry of External Affairs.
Gupta, Anirudha. 1978. India and Africa South of the Sahara. International Studies 17(3): 639–653.
Kapur, Devesh. 2003. The Indian Diaspora as a strategic asset. Economic and Political Weekly 38(5): 445–448.
Lal, Brij, Peter Reeves, and Rajesh Rai (eds.). 2006. Encyclopedia of Indian Diaspora. USA: University of Hawaii Press.
MIOA (Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs). 2012. Annual report, 2011–2012. New Delhi.
Nehru, Jawaharlal. 1976. Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru. New Delhi.
Reis, Michele. 2004. Theorizing Diaspora: Perspectives of ‘classical’ and ‘contemporary’ Diaspora. International Migration 42(2): 47.
Safran, William. 1991. Diasporas in modern societies: Myths of homeland and return. Diaspora 1(1): 83–84.
Shain, Yossi. 1995. Ethnic Diasporas and US Foreign policy. Political Science Quarterly 109(5): 811–841.
Sheffer, Gabriel. 2003. Diaspora Politics: At Home Abroad. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Smart, Alan, and Jinn-Yuh Hsu. 2004. The Chinese Diaspora, Foreign Investment and Economic Development in China. The Review of International Affairs 3(4): 544–566.
Times of India. 1963.
Vertovec, Steve. 2005. Political Importance of Diaspora. Centre on Migration, Policy and Society, Working Paper No. 13, University of Oxford.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 African Studies Association of India
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Dubey, A.K. (2016). The Indian Diaspora as a Heritage Resource in Indo–African Relations. In: Dubey, A., Biswas, A. (eds) India and Africa's Partnership. India Studies in Business and Economics. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2619-2_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2619-2_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New Delhi
Print ISBN: 978-81-322-2618-5
Online ISBN: 978-81-322-2619-2
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)