In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Diaspora 1:3 1991 Transformations of the Sikh Diaspora Milton Israel University of Toronto The Sikh Diaspora: Migration and the Experience Beyond Punjab. N. Gerald Barrier and Verne A. Dusenberry, eds. Columbia, MO: South Asia Publications, 1989. Today, many people in the West believe they see in migration an external threat to their cultures and societies no less significant than the Islamic invasions that were stopped at the gates ofVienna in 1529 and 1683. The British have sought to protect themselves from the contemporary challenge by legislating an end to the "open house" ideal oftheir imperial heyday; with its concentration ofalien dress, smells, language, and norms ofbehavior, an area like Southall has become a symbol of danger to national tradition. In France, the presence of a Muslim North African minority has stimulated a more extreme than usual defense of a presumably endangered French civilization, reflected in increasing votes for right-wing candidates wielding racist rhetoric. The easy inclusion of Algeria, Indochina , and Tunisia into "un terre Français" is the distant memory ofan idealistic and apparently naïve past. In Germany, the euphoria over unification has been succeeded by fears of population movements from the east that might create an intolerable economic, social , and cultural burden. In the decade after World War II, Canada and the United States began the process of removing the racist immigration policies that had protected the presumed purity of their mainstream societies. The response from Asia was immediate; quotas were filled and increased over time. The resulting diasporan communities ofChinese, Indian, Pakistani, and Sri Lankan peoples and the continuing pressure from outside have, however, produced defensive strategizing not unrelated to the recent European response. Legitimate refugees still may not be turned back, but no precise and satisfying definition ofa legitimate refugee exists. And we now live in a world where vast numbers of people on the move have no doubt about the legitimacy of their own refugee status. For example, for the Canadians and their cumbersome refugee determination mechanism, economic dis373 Diaspora 1:3 1991 tress does not qualify a would-be immigrant for refugee status; the danger to life must be based on evidence of political persecution, or a war must be in progress. Yet since anyone who can get to Canadian soil gains all the civil rights ofCanadian citizens, lengthy legal struggles become inevitable and endlessly reiterate the confrontation between enlightened ideals and practical self-interest. In recent history, every generation has encountered a period when its stable world of familiar and comfortable situations has been challenged and the ability to be at home in one's own country apparently has been undermined. Beyond the normal generational confrontation of styles, values, and behavior, individuals both in East and West share today the sense that they dwell in a shifting world that has made a fundamental impact on long-held and carefully defined social relationships and cultural norms. Yet the reality ofa dynamic and modernizing Asia has been relatively slow to affect the viewpoint and perspective of Europeans and North Americans; they still do not recognize the extent to which the East, too, is changing . The perceived context ofcontinuing technological and economic dominance on one side and mass impoverishment on the other directs attention to a vast range of peoples ruled by autocrats or corrupt officials, still viewed as benighted and otherworldly. There remains for the West an essential East Asia, India, and tropical Africa, regions that are assumed to be fundamentally different in culture and populated by wretched masses denied control over their own destiny by the legacy of an irrational tradition that in fact increasingly responds to pressures similar to those felt by the West. The rise of Japan as a world economic power has stimulated a slow, partial erosion of such western stereotypes of the East, but understanding has been grudging and selective. Japan began the process of self-revision at the turn of the century, with an alliance with the British that acknowledged Japan's naval power and a subsequent victory in the Russo-Japanese War. Japanese power confronted the West on equal terms in World War II, and the challenge ofJapanese expertise currently produces a defensive and respectful Western...

pdf

Share