On Sat, Jul 19, 2008 at 11:47 AM, ashok _ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The interesting thing is among the 'asians' the distinctive groups are > community > based : bohras, patels, oshwals, shahs, khojas, lohanas, badalas, kutchis, > pathaans, konkani muslims, goans, memons, baluchis... > people identify themselves with these communities rather than as indians or > pakistanis (presumably because much of the immigration happened in the early > part of the last century when the communal/caste identity was the strongest).
I recently read the book _Girmityas_ by Brij V Lal about the socio-economic conditions in India that precipitated the emigration of the tens of thousands of Indians under the indentured labor system to different parts of the world. The book is based on Lal's PhD thesis and is a fascinating introduction to the indentured labor system. People familiar with my job title of Lead Indentured Slave when I was still an H1B worker will know why I am fascinated with this. There are several parallels between the indentured labor system and the H1B-type system. Unfortunately, Lal's book is mostly about immigration to Fiji (which is where Lal was born). He bemoans the lack of research into immigration to East Africa specifically (apparently there is a lot of work done on "colored" immigration to Natal). Thaths -- "I saw this in a movie about a bus that had to SPEED around a city, keeping its SPEED over fifty, and if its SPEED dropped, it would explode. I think it was called, 'The Bus That Couldn't Slow Down'." -- Homer J. Simpson
