Indians and the Antipodes

Book excerpt: The Indian diaspora in Australia and New Zealand represents a successful ethnic community making significant contributions to their host societies and economies. However, because of their small number—slightly more than half a million— they rarely find mention in the global literature on Indian diaspora. The present volume seeks to remedy this oversight. Charting the chequered 250-year-old history of both the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ diaspora in the antipodes, the chapters narrate the stories of labourers who journeyed under the pressure of colonial capital and post-war professional migrants who went in search of better opportunities. In the context of the ‘White Australia’ and ‘White New Zealand’ policies designed to stem the arrival of Asians in the early twentieth century, we read of the complex survival stratagems adopted by migrants to circumvent the stringent insular world view of the existing white settlers in these countries. Together with stories of the collective suffering and struggles of the diaspora, we are presented with stories of individual resilience, enterprise, and social mobility.