Comments on: The Third Migration

By: Balban

Balban — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:44:43 +0000

I heard in a lecture once that Wahhabi influence was injected into the Punjab/Bengal beginning in the early 1800s with the advent of cheap steamship pilgrimages. Interest in copying Arabian practice was marked in the historical record by a change in naming conventions (like a baby boom of kids given previously unused names like Muhammad/Ali/Husayn/Etc around 18whatever). Any relation to the present story

By: sepoy

sepoy — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:07:47 +0000

DI: Thanks for the link. I hope to tackle your question (not at all stupid) and others in the future…

By: Blogistan Gems « F I S A B I L I L L A H - ﻓﺳﺑﻟﻳﻟﻟﻪ

Blogistan Gems « F I S A B I L I L L A H - ﻓﺳﺑﻟﻳﻟﻟﻪ — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:55:08 +0000

[...] Sepoy begins a conversation on the “labor and migration, civil and social structures, law and order, [...]

By: Rickshaw Diaries

Rickshaw Diaries — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 06:41:13 +0000

Blogistan Gems…

Good reads:
Historian Sepoy on the “labor and migration, civil and social structures, law and order, rights and claims of the many peoples of Pakistan.”
Poet Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore on the knot of gold tied by the Prophet, peace and blessin…

By: Desi Italiana

Desi Italiana — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 05:36:43 +0000

Namaskar Sepoy,

Thanks for writing this; I’m always interested in migrations, and your post gives an interesting angle on the effects of Pakistani migrations.

However, this sentence stands out:

“However, this third migration allowed vast population to un-learn their “decadent” and “deviant” practices from the “pure practitioners” in Saudi Arabia, Qatar or the Emirates. New practices took hold in the southern valleys and northern mountains – dupattas were replaced with burkas, sufi shrines with madrasas etc.”

I am wondering– and perhaps this is a stupid question– but how can we be sure that there is a direct link between migration and ideologies which then yield significant impacts upon Pakistani society(ies)? From my understanding of Hindu fundamentalism and the diaspora (whether migratory or born and raised abroad), it seems that the main driving forces come from within India, with the diaspora latching onto to it. And this diaspora has a significant global, well structured fundamentalist organization such as the VHP that could give more ammo to their wild saffron dreams, but their effects are nowhere near what the Hindutva movement within India is doing. This isn’t to discount that the diaspora sends in money for some of the “Hindu causes” in “Bharat”, but I’m wondering how to assess and ascertain the impact of migration and ideologies that seem to take place in South Asian countries.

A 2006 UN paper full of facts on migration in GCC:
http://www.un.org/esa/population/meetings/EGM_Ittmig_Arab/P02_Kapiszewski.pdf

By: N.

N. — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:18:06 +0000

I’ve been meaning to mention this to you and this seems as good/relevant a time as any: Ilhan Niaz’s book,
An Inquiry into the Culture of Power of the Subcontinent is one perspective on how we ended up where we are now. Published by Alhamra in Islamabad.

By: sepoy

sepoy — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:22:33 +0000

You will be one of the resources, as I go forward. One thing about making Gulf unique is the truly amazing proportion of migrant labor vs indigenous population – in Qatar (70%) and UAE (80%), the migrant foreign population (this includes Jordanian, Egyptian, Syrian, Yemeni along with South and Southeast Asians) are actually in majority. Similarly for Kuwait and maybe Bahrain. Saudi Arabia is the only one that has that ratio favoring locals. Overall, the GCC have a migrant labor to local population rates around 40%….

By: Jonathan Dresner

Jonathan Dresner — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:03:45 +0000

The kind of labor migration you’re describing — short/medium term labor migration with high rates of return and remittances — is very common in the literature. Sojourner migration sometimes features the kind of acculturative feedback you describe but it’s actually kind of unusual in my experience: migrant workers who travel in large flows often form insular communities whose only contact with “host” societies is the labor transaction (and legal authorities).

So there’s an interesting story waiting to be told on the Gulf end of this as well: something different is going on.