“If you become a slave here, do you think they’re going to fight there?” Tamil Diaspora Mobilizations and Host-country Politics

Tamil diaspora political mobilization against the Sri Lankan government shows that, contrary to a commonly held view, migrants’ transnational political engagement can be a vector, rather than an obstacle, to their political inclusion in their country of settlement. But the articulation of a homeland...

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Main Author: Lola Guyot
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud 2021-11-01
Series:South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/7665
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author Lola Guyot
author_facet Lola Guyot
author_sort Lola Guyot
collection DOAJ
description Tamil diaspora political mobilization against the Sri Lankan government shows that, contrary to a commonly held view, migrants’ transnational political engagement can be a vector, rather than an obstacle, to their political inclusion in their country of settlement. But the articulation of a homeland-oriented struggle with the broader political participation of migrants has been a highly contentious issue in the diasporic political field, some activists seeing in these dynamics a risk of co-optation and dilution of the Tamil cause. While LTTE diasporic associations promoted a form of political inclusion which did not challenge the primacy of the Tamil cause, independent diasporic groups incorporated external ideological influences in their conception of the Tamil struggle and merged their homeland-oriented activism with a broader engagement in host-country politics. The case of Tamil diaspora politics shows that the modalities of incorporation of diaspora activists into host-country politics can be a major stake for them, leading to thorough reflections about their role as migrant political actors, to deep disagreements between various poles of a diasporic field, and to diverse pathways of insertion in the host-country political arena.
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spelling doaj-art-be50a7c049a1441099fcb1ff67d7d1072025-08-20T02:34:24ZengCentre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du SudSouth Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal1960-60602021-11-012710.4000/samaj.7665“If you become a slave here, do you think they’re going to fight there?” Tamil Diaspora Mobilizations and Host-country PoliticsLola GuyotTamil diaspora political mobilization against the Sri Lankan government shows that, contrary to a commonly held view, migrants’ transnational political engagement can be a vector, rather than an obstacle, to their political inclusion in their country of settlement. But the articulation of a homeland-oriented struggle with the broader political participation of migrants has been a highly contentious issue in the diasporic political field, some activists seeing in these dynamics a risk of co-optation and dilution of the Tamil cause. While LTTE diasporic associations promoted a form of political inclusion which did not challenge the primacy of the Tamil cause, independent diasporic groups incorporated external ideological influences in their conception of the Tamil struggle and merged their homeland-oriented activism with a broader engagement in host-country politics. The case of Tamil diaspora politics shows that the modalities of incorporation of diaspora activists into host-country politics can be a major stake for them, leading to thorough reflections about their role as migrant political actors, to deep disagreements between various poles of a diasporic field, and to diverse pathways of insertion in the host-country political arena.https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/7665Tamil diasporaimmigrant politicsSri Lankan civil wardiaspora politicspolitical inclusion
spellingShingle Lola Guyot
“If you become a slave here, do you think they’re going to fight there?” Tamil Diaspora Mobilizations and Host-country Politics
South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal
Tamil diaspora
immigrant politics
Sri Lankan civil war
diaspora politics
political inclusion
title “If you become a slave here, do you think they’re going to fight there?” Tamil Diaspora Mobilizations and Host-country Politics
title_full “If you become a slave here, do you think they’re going to fight there?” Tamil Diaspora Mobilizations and Host-country Politics
title_fullStr “If you become a slave here, do you think they’re going to fight there?” Tamil Diaspora Mobilizations and Host-country Politics
title_full_unstemmed “If you become a slave here, do you think they’re going to fight there?” Tamil Diaspora Mobilizations and Host-country Politics
title_short “If you become a slave here, do you think they’re going to fight there?” Tamil Diaspora Mobilizations and Host-country Politics
title_sort if you become a slave here do you think they re going to fight there tamil diaspora mobilizations and host country politics
topic Tamil diaspora
immigrant politics
Sri Lankan civil war
diaspora politics
political inclusion
url https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/7665
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