Nation, Diaspora, Trans-Nation ─ Reflections from India

In the present conjuncture of globalization, the prospect of 'post-nation' and patriotism's obsolescence in a transnational world is being debated. This ethnographically rich and discursively sharp study articulates the contribution that diaspora studies can make to this debate. It brings home the dynamic and changing nature of both nation and trans-nation, their positionalities being determined by the geopolitical and ethnocultural location of the analyst and the analytical frame of comparison brought to bear on them.

Ravindra K. Jain is the current Elected Chairman (2008-11) of the Indian Nation Confederation and Academy of Anthropologists. He was recently Visiting Professor at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Selango and the University of KwaZulu Natal, Durk He retired as Professor of Sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2002. His recent publications include Between History and Legend: Status and Power in Bundelkhand (2002) and Indian Transmigrants: Malaysi and Comparative Essays (2009), selected the Professor G.S. Ghurye Award, 2009.