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Continuity in mind: imagination and migration in India and the Gulf

Version 2 2023-06-12, 08:41
Version 1 2023-06-09, 06:35
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-12, 08:41 authored by Thomas Chambers
In the context of migration between Uttar Pradesh, other areas of India and the Gulf, this article explores the role of the imagination in shaping subjective experiences of male Muslim migrants from a woodworking industry in the North Indian city of Saharanpur. Through attending to the dreams, aspirations and hopes of labour migrants the article argues that bridging the material and the imagined is critical to understanding, not just patterns of migration, but also the subjective experiences of migrants themselves. Through a descriptive ethnographic account, involving journeys with woodworkers over one and a half years, the article explores the ways in which migration, its effects and connections are shaped by the imagination, yet are also simultaneously active in shaping the imagination, a process which is self-perpetuating. Emerging from this, the article gives attention to continuity at the material, personal and more emotive level. This runs counter to many accounts which situate migration as rupturing or change driving within both the social and the subjective. These continuities play out in complex ways providing comfort and familiarity but also enabling the imaginations of migrants to be subverted, co-opted, influenced and structured to meet the demands of labour markets both domestically and abroad.

Funding

2011 ESRC Standard Research Transition Standard Quota DTG; G0646; ESRC-ECONOMIC & SOCIAL RESEARCH COUNCIL; ES/I900934/1

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Modern Asian Studies

ISSN

0026-749X

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Issue

4

Volume

52

Page range

1420-1456

Department affiliated with

  • Anthropology Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2017-06-08

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2017-06-08

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2017-06-08

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