Kee_Pookong_01.ppt 2579975435676667788888

1. Diasporas:
General Perspectives and Overview
Kee Pookong
Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University
kee@apu.ac.jp
5th DIVERSITY MATTERS
a Commonwealth forum on cultural diversity
Diasporas in the Commonwealth
Monash Malaysia
19 – 20 November 2008

2. Outline
Conceptualizing
“Diasporas”
Importance of Diasporas
Chinese and Indian
Diasporas
Challenges and Issues

3. Evolution of the Concept
 Dia speiro (Greek) = to scatter seed
Greek colonial expansion: 800 - 600 BC
 Jewish history = forced exile, victimization, myth
of return
586 BC through Holocaust (1938-1944),
Israel state (1948) and Present
 African Diasporas
1960s -Forced dispersion, homelands
 Recent liberal usages of the term
Any form of real or imagined community

4. Some Essential Characteristics
 Dispersal in two or more countries
 Memory of original homeland
 Alienation, marginalisation or exclusion in host land
 Relationship with kin in other diasporic communities
 Preserve ethnic boundaries
 Ongoing relationship with ancestral land
 Idealization or discourse of return

5. Diasporas – Typologies
 Victim Diasporas
 Jews, African、Armenian
 Migratory Diasporas – Labor, Traders, Refugees
 Chinese, Indian, Palestinian, Italian, Greek, Japanese
 Ideological (Religious) Diasporas
- Islam, Hindu, Sikhs
 Imperial Diasporas
 British, German
Displacement by causes (Robin Cohen, 1997)

6. Importance of Diasporas
• An analytical concept:
– History of human experience: dispersion, identity, longing,
and return
• A practical concept:
– Of interest to states – political, economic, or cultural
mobilization
– International organizations – development
– International relations

7. Special relevance in a globalized world –
Compression of time and space
 Transmitters of funds and ideas
 Global production networks
 Production, distribution, consumption, R&D
 Role in an Information Age
 Information vs. Knowledge and Understanding
 Mass migration (200 million “migrants”)
 Size, direction, characteristics and timing

8. The Chinese Diaspora(s)
Long History of Chinese Migration
Columbus’s
St Maria
Admiral Zheng He [Cheng Ho] – 1405-1433

9. Source: Adam McKeown, 2004, Global Chinese Migration, 1850-1940
White Australia Policy, 1901
Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882, USA
Chinese Immigration Act, 1923, Canada
1842 Treaty of Nanjing Forced opening of Chinese ports
1834 Abolition of slavery Indentured labor
•

10. The Chinese “Diaspora(s)”
 “Overseas Chinese” or “Chinese Overseas”?
Chinese Categorization
 Zhong Guo Ren (Chinese nationals)
 0verseas Chinese (Hua Qiao – Chinese Sojourners)
 Chinese nationality
 Huaren (Ethnic Chinese)
 Chinese identity
 Hua yi (People of Chinese Descent)
 “Assimilated”, Inter-married

11. Overseas
Chinese
Chinese
Overseas Chinese “GNP”, 1990
US$ 450 billion
SUS$354 billion
Source: The Economist (London), July 1992

12. Hong Kong,
59%
Taiwan, 11%
Rest of OECD,
8%
USA, 7%
Japan, 6%
Others, 4%
Singapore, 3% Rest of S.E Asia,
2%
Percentage of Direct Foreign Investments in China by Sources, 1994
Source: State Statistical Bureau, China, 1995 (see Encyclopedia of Chinese Overseas, 1998, Page 111)

13. 1995
1998
1996
1997

14. 1995

15. Distribution (%) of “Chinese Overseas” in Selected Countries, 2003
Estimated Total 37,500,000
Japan 1.28%
Myanmar 2.71%
Vietnam 3.25%
Laos 0.46%
Thailand 19.18%
Cambodia 0.86%
Philippines 2.92%
Malaysia 16.09%
Brunei 0.01%
Singapore 6.99%
Indonesia, 19.62 %
India 0.38%
USA 8.49%
Canada 3.89%
UK 0.72%
Netherlands 0.38%
France 0.61%
Germany 0.27%
Russia 0.53%
Australia 1.56%
New Zealand 0.34%
Source: The Almanac of Overseas Chinese Economy, Taipei (in Chinese) various years

16. Myanmar1,018,074 (2.1%)
Vietnam1,220,000 (1.53%)
Laos 172,933 (3.2%)
Thailand7,193,000 (11.0%)
Cambodia321,180 (2.4%)
Philippines1,096,169 (1.3%)
Malaysia6,036,000 (24.1%)
Brunei5,579 (14.4%)
Singapore2,621,000 (76.8%)
Indonesia,7,362,000 (3.4%)
Japan 479.000 (0.3%)
India
141,600
(0.01%)
USA
3,186,000
(1.1%)
Canada
1,458,000
(4.6%)
UK271,000(0.45%)
Netherlands143,000(0.88%)
France229,000(0.38%)
Germany103,000(0.13%)
Russia
200,000 (0.14%)
Australia
585,000 (2.93%)
New Zealand
127,000 (2.67%)
Source: The Almanac of Overseas Chinese Economy, Taipei (in Chinese) various years
Chinese Diaspora:
Number and Percentage in Selected Countries, 2003

17. Chinese Diaspora Population Distribution (%), 2003
Number: 37.5 Million
Indonesia, 19.62%
Thailand, 19.18%
Malaysia, 16.09%
USA, 8.49%
Singapore, 6.99%
Canada, 3.89%
Vietnam,
3.25%
Philipine,
2.92%
Myanmar,
2.71%
Others, 16.85%

18. Indians Diasporas
 Mass migration started with the colonial era in the 19th
century
 some 28 million Indians emigrated , 1846-1932
some 4.5 million settled in Malaya and Burma between 1882 and
1937
 Mostly working class – coolie migration (plantation workers,
labourers)
 Post-Independence: migration to Britain
 Since 1970s: highly skilled migrants to the USA, Canada and
Australia

19. Policy Development
• High Level Committee on Indian Diasporas Report, 2001
• Indian Diaspora Day – Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, January 9th
• Overseas Citizenship of India Act, December 2005 – dual
citizenship to PIOs (Persons of Indian Origin)

20. Indian Diaspora: Distribution (%) in Selected Countries, 2001
Total Estimate: 16,943,580
Australia
1.12%
Canada
2.84%
Fiji
1.99%
Kenya
0.6%
Kuwait 1.74%
Bahrain 20.22%
Qatar 10.77%
UAE 5.61%
Saudi Arabia 8.85%
Oman 1.84%
Mauritius
4.22%
Myanmar 17.13%
Reunion Is.
1.3%
Singapore 1.81%
South Africa
5.9%
Trinidad Tobago 2.95%
Guyana,2.33%
Suriname 0.89%
UK 7.08%
Netherlands 1.28%
USA
9.91%
Malaysia 9.83%
Source: The Indian Diaspora, High Level Committee on Indian Diaspora, New Delhi, 2001
http://indiandiaspora.nic.in/contents.htm, 2001

21. Indian Diaspora:
Number and Percentage in Selected Countries, 2001
Malaysia 1,665,000
(7.27%%)
Australia
190,000 (1.02%)
Canada 851,000 (2.84%)
Fiji
336,829
(42.1%)
Kenya 102,500
(0.36%)
Kuwait295,000(13.09%)
Bahrain130,000(20.22%)
Qatar131,000(24.95%)
UAE950,000(32,76%)
SaudiArabia1,500,000(6.98%)
Oman312,000(13.57%)
Mauritius
715,756
(60.35%)
Myanmar 2,902,000 (6.24%)
Reunion Is.
220,055
(31.02%)
Singapore 307,000 (9.72%)
South Africa
1,000,000
(2.23%)
TrinidadTobago500,600(64,59%)
Guyana395,350(51.01%)
Suriname150,000(34.25%)
UK1,200,000 (2.11%)
Netherlands217,000(1.36%)
USA 1,678,765 (0.6%)
Source: http://indiandiaspora.nic.in/contents.htm, 2001

22. Indian Diaspora Population Distribution (%), 2001
Number: 16.9 Million (20 million?)
Myanmar
17%
USA
10%
Malaysia
10%
Saudi Arabia
9%
UK
7%
South Africa
6%
UAE
6%
Canada 5%
Mauritius 4%
Others
26%

23. Chinese and Indian Diaspora: Compared
 37 million
 80% in Southeast Asia
(Nanyang – South Seas)
 Historically more varied –
merchants, traders, and
labourers
 Greater degree of Chinese
integration and assimilation
–Christianity, intermarriage;
forced assimilation
 20 million
 Wider scatter, including Africa,
Caribbean, Middle East
 Historically, majority were
plantation worker sand
labourers
 Less predominantly male (under
British regulated indentured
system); arranged marriages;
larger numbers;; Hindu religion;
caste

24. - Relative homogeneity
 Buddhist, Ancestor
Worship, secularization
 Common written
language
 Regional (Dialect)
identities
Greater diversity
 Aryan – Dravidian
 Religion (Hindu, Sikh,
Parsi, Muslim,
Buddhist)
 Language (Hindi, Tamil,
Punjabi, Telugu)
 Caste
- Regional identities

25. Popular Cultures
Chinese Cultural “Centre”,
“Semi-Periphery”,
“Periphery”
1. Centre: China
2. Secondary Centres:
Taiwan, Hong Kong
3. Tertiary Centres (sub-
cultures): Singapore, San
Francisco, Sydney-
Melbourne
•
Bollywood – Bombay
Kollywood - Kodambakkam,
Madras (Tamil)
Indo-Caribbean Diaspora
Literature

26. Deng Xiaoping 邓小平: 1904-1997 Deng Lijun 邓丽君: 1953-1995
Day Night

27. Chinese Overseas investment
(FDI) in China
Active global diasporic
meetings/conferences of clan,
dialect , and business groups
World Chinese
Entrepreneurs Conventions
(since 1991);
Hakka, Teochew and other
dialect group conferences
les than 5% of the
Chinese counterparts
Less active

28. Convergence in Chinese and Indian
Diaspora Experience
 Migration and the highly skilled, professional and
entrepreneurial especially to the USA, Canada,
Australia (and Singapore)
 Two-stage or multi-stage migration: re-migration
 Return migration and circular migration (brain
circulation)

29. 1998 2006

30. Australia, 22.8%
China Mainland
30.5%
Hong Kong 10.1%
T
aiwan, 3.7%
Malaysia, 10.0%
Singapore, 3.5%
Viet Nam, 6.4%
Indonesia, 3.6% Australia
China(exclud
Province)
HongKong(
Taiwan
Malaysia
Singapore
Viet Nam
Cambodia
Indonesi
a
East Timor
Laos
Thailand
PapuaNew
All Other Bir
Cambodia
Birthplaces of People of Chinese Ancestry, Australia, 2006
Migration and Re-Migration:
Chinese-Australians as a Microcosm of the Diaspora

31. RE-MIGRATION
Estimates of Overseas Chinese Population in Selected South-East Asian Countries (Various Years)
and Proportions of Chinese Among Immigrants to Australia from these Sources (2001 Census)

32. Challenges and Issues
 Conceptual
 Semantic - Analytical Rigor
Proper Noun quasi-Proper Noun common noun
“Oxymoronic definitions” (Dufoix2003) –
 “Queer diaspora”, “Soccer diaspora”, etc

33. State Responses to Ethno-cultural and
Religious Diversity
Destination country
• Extermination
• Assimilation
• Selective Inclusion
• Multicultural
• Global or Local
Source country
• Encourage integration to
local community
• Diaspora mobilization for
political party or national
interest
• Extraterritoriality
International Relations: Identity Politics; Diasporas as Non-State Global Actors

34. Jus Sanguinis, Jus Solis, or?
1. Jus Sanguinis – Birthrights by descent (blood)
2. Jus Solis – Birthrights by place of birth
3. Dual Nationality
4. Individual Choice?

35. The Three “Ds” of Migration
The Migrant Experience : on-going
Dirty, Demanding, Dangerous
Continued “proletarianisation” of diaspora members in
the South & North vs. “professionalisation” in the North
(Bhikhu Parekh et al, 2003)
The Main Causes of Migration
Demography, Development,Democracy
 Diasporas – as a democratization, development, and
demographic change agents

36. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
China(Mainland)
Hongkong
Taiwan
Singapore
Malaysia
Vietnam
Indonesia
Cambodia
Victoria total
Global Communities?
Internet Connectedness – Selected Birthplace Groups, Victoria,
Australia 2006
88%
85%
78%
85%
85%
65%
84%

37. http://www.floridastateparks.org/hughtaylorbirch/images/visitors/HTB-GiantBanyanTree-RandyGardner.jpg
Rabindranath Tagore, 1861-1941