Migration and identity processes among first-generation British South Asians

Abstract

There has been little scholarly attention to the identities and migratory experiences of first-generation British South Asians, especially from social psychologists. Drawing upon Identity Process Theory, this article examines the inter-relations between migration and identity processes among twenty first-generation British South Asians. The interview data were analysed using qualitative thematic analysis. Results suggested that migration was perceived as a means of enhancing identity and that following migration individuals acquired a ‘higher’ social status in the homeland. Moreover, the psychologically traumatic aspects of migration, such as the loss of community and ‘otherisation’ from one's ethnic ingroup, were outlined. It is argued that migration can have profound socio-psychological implications and that decades later it can continue to shape individuals' sense of self and their attachment to relevant social categories. Furthermore, migration has important outcomes for the extent and nature of British national identification as well one's relationship with the ethnic ‘homeland’.

Keywords:

• identity
• migration
• ethnic identity
• national identity
• homeland

Acknowledgements

The author thanks members of the Self and Identity Research Group, as well as the anonymous reviewers, for providing constructive comments on previous versions of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Dr Rusi Jaspal has obtained degrees from the University of Cambridge, University of Surrey and Royal Holloway, University of London. He is currently Senior Lecturer in Psychology at De Montfort University, Leicester, UK, where he also leads the Self and Identity Research Group. He is the author of Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism: Representation, Cognition and Everyday Talk (Ashgate, 2014) and co-editor (with Dame Glynis Breakwell) of Identity Process Theory: Identity, Social Action and Social Change (Cambridge University Press, 2014).

Notes

1. Office for National Statistics 2011. http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/key-statistics-for-local-authorities-in-england-and-wales/rpt-ethnicity.html#tab-Ethnicity-in-England-and-Wales

2. A social representation is essentially a social construction of reality, which is elaborated by a group or society in order to facilitate communication and behaviour (Moscovici 1988).

3. This term is used to refer to the (South Asian) friends and family members who have remained in the Indian Subcontinent, with whom many BSA retain contact (in various different ways). While they share an ethnic identity (e.g. as Indians), they do not necessarily share a national identity.