ABSTRACT
The world is currently witnessing a growing number of migrants with increasingly complex migration biographies. In the past, most migrants undertook one permanent migration to a new location, whereas today migrations have become more transitory within and between several nation-states. As a result, many migrants are part of complex transnational networks. The Indian diaspora is a product of different migration phases and comprises over 20 million people living outside of India. It is a prime example of a complex transnational community, not least due to the existence of so-called twice and thrice migrants. Due to its long history, diversity and complexity the Indian diaspora can be regarded as a prototype for transnational social practices. In this chapter, I focus on three migrant communities in Australia – Punjabis, Kannadigas and Indo-Fijians – in order to address the spatial organisation of Indian diasporic transnationalism and the embedded continuities and discontinuities in these processes. I begin with a brief discussion of the important role of transnational kinship networks for Indian migrants. This is followed by an overview of three Indian communities in Australia, based on which models of transnational spaces are introduced. These models emphasise not only that social relations occur in geographical space but also that the significance and role of particular localities may change over time, and that a hierarchy of places exists. The models can be used to compare and contrast the experience of different diasporic groups with each other.
