Diasporic engagement and the climate crisis in Kerala: inclusive disaster relief and reconstruction?

ABSTRACT

India has been identified as one of the most vulnerable countries within the global climate crisis. Kerala has been highlighted as a hotspot of climate vulnerability within India, and this was illustrated by the floods of 2018. Nearly, 500 people lost their lives during the floods and 1.4 million were displaced, with the reconstruction programme still taking place today. Anecdotal andmedia accounts have suggested that the Keralan diaspora played a significant part in the disaster relief and reconstruction effort both during and after the floods. However, there has been very little detailed empirical investigation into this particular diasporic engagement during a time of crisis. Drawing upon original empirical research, this paper will examine the nature and impact of Keralan diasporic engagement during, and after, the 2018 floods, particularly focussing upon whether this was an inclusive relief and development effort across the categories of caste, region and religion within the state.

KEYWORDS:

• Kerala
• diaspora
• floods
• caste
• transnationalism
• inclusive development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Steve Taylor

Steve Taylor is a Professor of Sociology/International Development within the Centre for Global Development, Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Northumbria University, UK. He has researched and published previously on the migration-development nexus within the Indian Punjabi transnational community, meanings of ‘home’ and belonging amongst the Eastern and Western Punjabi diaspora and Dalit migration from Punjab and Kerala. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the South Asia Institute, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.

Deborah Booth

Deborah Booth is a Researcher within the Centre for Global Development, Northumbria University, UK. She has previously researched, and published on, narratives of children in the brick kiln industry in India, child trafficking in the north east of England as well as working for a range of NGOs and global development agencies, with a specific interest in the lived experiences of refugees and asylum seekers. Deborah is currently working on a project examining the relationship between the global South Asian diaspora, climate change and environmental citizenship.

Rohit Irudayarajan

Rohit Irudayarajan is a Masters graduate in International Development from the University of Northumbria, United Kingdom. He has earlier completed his bachelor's of Economics from Madras Christian College India. His major areas of Interest are Student Migration and Climate Change. He is currently working as a Research Associate with Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad on the Project ‘Odisha Migration Study’ He is also affiliated as a Research Fellow at the International Institute of Migration and Development, Kerala.