Locations for South Asian diasporas

This review explores the cultural consequences of migrations from the India n subcontinent for interdisciplinary inquiries into difference and belongin g. It poses the question of whether the constructed term South Asian can ad equately bridge the divide between more internationalist conceptions of dia spora and nationalist accounts of racial and ethnic formation, and if so, w hether it creates new epistemologies for the consideration of migration in highly globalized political and economic arrangements. In arguing that mult iple formations of nationality take place in diasporic culture, this review also intervenes in debates in anthropology about the geographical and conc eptual boundaries of community. Finally, in suggesting that gender, sexuali ty, and generation might profoundly fissure South Asian and other diasporas , the article raises the question of the implicit limits of any category of location or identity.