Walking for leisure: the translocal lives of first generation Gujarati Indian men and women

Abstract

Walking as a leisure pastime is particularly popular amongst first generation members of the South Asian community. Whilst the lives of younger generations of South Asian men and women have tended to be at the forefront of academic debates, this has had the unfortunate effect of reducing the subjectivities of older groups to more narrow and fixed ideas about South Asian traditions and cultures. Thus limiting an understanding of their identities as also being hybrid, multiple and in-process. Additionally, much of the research about the leisure lives of migrant groups has been based upon research about the subjectivities and belongings of men, the histories of women have been relatively ignored. In order to address these absences, this research utilised participatory methods to explore first generation Gujarati Indian men and women’s particular experiences of walking. The research findings revealed that the spaces/places that they walked through and across as part of their daily routines whilst relatively ordinary, were deeply meaningful, they enabled the participants to forward the translocal character of their identities over time and across space.

Keywords:

• Translocal
• Race
• Gender
• Gujarati Indians
• Participatory Research
• Walking

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Professor Jonathan Long for proof-reading the paper, and to the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.

Notes

1. In this paper, I use the term subjectivity to give the power of self-definition to ‘agents’ whilst recognising that ‘identity’ is often used interchangeably in scholarly debates, signifying how social categorisations of being and belonging may be understood as well as operate as sites of political mobilisation (Barker, 2003).

2. Whilst I am aware that this may possibly risk their well-being if targeted by far-right groups who may read this paper, the nature of the research and my links to the participants meant that it would difficult to overcome or limit this risk. This issue was therefore discussed with the participants as part of the process of seeking informed consent.

3. ‘Upna’ is a Gujarati term that literally means ‘ours’. But it does not necessarily denote possession; as something belonging to someone. It is an expression which draws together people who belong to a certain community, even if they do not know each other. A better translation might be something close to the meaning of ‘our people’.

4. The translation of ‘gam’ is ‘village’. Although the village that the participants are referring to is no longer a village but a town, yet this is how this particular ‘gam’ is remembered; untouched by a growing populace.