INTRODUCTION

Diasporas are complex social formations shaped by political imaginaries and defined by the materialities of national borders and economies. Scholars across disciplines have grappled with the concept of diaspora and its paradigmatic constructions of forced dispersal, nostalgia and imagined homelands. The geographical diversity of the Indian diaspora has been shaped against the backdrop of the historical forces of colonialism, nationalism and neoliberal globalization. Diasporas and nations have historically come together around states of being such as the quality of Indianness. Trade and religious propagation were the main reasons for early emigration from India. Diasporas and nations are bound together through the articulation of difference and citizenship. Diasporas represent communicative sites of intense heterogeneity which render legible the political disposition of nations. Maintaining a strong community base has been central to diasporas for both survival and sociality.