The geography of the Indian World and its diasporas

Objectives

The Indian World and its diasporas are put on the forefront this year by the Ecole Normale Supérieure, France, through the geography exam of the 2008 entrance examination.

With the objective of presenting an overall view on this theme, to candidates and students with different backgrounds (technological, political and geographical) from the Bordeaux region of France, this workshop intended to tackle the main caracteristics of the geography of South Asia as well as several approaches to the Indian diffusion in the world-space, through speeches by five researchers and five junior researchers working on domains pertaining to the geography of the Indian World and its diasporas.

Following a presentation of the big cities in South Asia whose geography is at the crossroads between different socio-historical stakes and dynamics of metropolitanisation, then of a geographical analysis of the role of Hinduism in the Indian social space and beyond India, the terms and stakes of the shaping, then of the re-territorialisation of the Indian diaspora in the new territories, were presented through three case studies : the Nattukottai Chettiars and the Sikhs in Southeast Asia, the paths and the territories of the Tamil Diaspora in the Ile-de-France region of France, then a presentation of the identity stakes of Indian women in a London neighbourhood.

Programme

Coordinator

Kamala Marius-Gnanou (University of Bordeaux, UMR Ades, France)

Speakers

• Michel Bruneau (CNRS)
• Elodie Duru (University of Bordeaux, UMR Ades, France)
• Anthony Goreau (University of Bordeaux, UMR Ades, France)
• Kamala Marius-Gnanou (University of Bordeaux, UMR Ades, France)
• Pierre-Yves Trouillet (University of Bordeaux, UMR Ades, France)

Venue

Maison des Sciences de l’Homme d’Aquitaine, Bordeaux, France