Middling Migration: Contradictory Mobility Experiences of Indian Youth in London

Abstract

In this paper we examine the contradictory migration experiences of Indian youth who recently moved to Britain on a student or temporary work visa and discuss the perspectives of their middle-class families in Gujarat. Like many young people in developing countries, our informants dreamed of going to the West to earn money and improve their prospects at home but ended up in low-status, semi-skilled jobs to cover their expenses, living in small guesthouses crammed with newly arrived migrants. Why did these young people leave India and go to London and what do they get by moving abroad? Based on research in London and Gujarat, our findings show that the decision to migrate is shaped by a combination of individual and social motivations. These young people moved to London not only to earn money and gain new experiences but also to escape family pressures by living away from their parents. Their parents encourage them, though they are aware of the difficulties their children face in London. They regard the migration as a requisite precautionary strategy to maintain their status as middle-class families in India, thereby safeguarding the next generation's future prospects.

Keywords:

• Migration
• Youth
• Middle Class
• Britain
• India

Acknowledgements

This paper was written as part of the research programme ‘Provincial Globalisation: The Impact of Reverse on India's Regional Towns’, a collaboration between the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR), University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bangalore, India, funded by the WOTRO Science for Global Development programme of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). The authors would like to thank Barak Kalir and Carol Upadhya for their valuable comments and feedback on the initial drafts.

Notes

[1] Articles appeared in national newspapers like The Hindu (30 November 2009, http://www.thehindu.com/features/education/cashstrapped-indian-students-in-uk-scrounge-for-food/article57226.ece), Indian Express (30 November 2009, http://m.indianexpress.com/news/cashstrapped-indian-students-in-uk-scrounge-for-food/547987), Hindustan Times (30 November 2009, http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/Europe/Cash-strapped-Indians-in-UK-hunt-for-food/Article1-481716.aspx) and The Economic Times (1 December 2009, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/services/travel/visa-power/cash-strapped-indian-students-in-uk-scrounge-for-food/articleshow/5284062.cms). The London-based Gujarati newspaper, Gujarat Samachar (19 December 2009, 7), made an appeal to the established Gujarati community in the UK to donate food and clothes for distribution to the new arrivals from Gujarat.

[2] Several respondents appear in a documentary we produced, together with Isabelle Makay, entitled Living Like a Common Man (2011). See http://sites.google.com/site/livinglikeacommonman. One of the authors has conducted long-term research in central Gujarat and on Gujarati migrants in London), the other author is currently doing her Ph.D. research on transnationalism in central Gujarat.

[3] To protect their anonymity, the names of respondents have been changed.

[4] See Rajan, Varghese, and Jayakumar (2011) for a detailed description of the overseas recruitment system in India.

[5] See http://www.anandct.com.

[6] See http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmhaff/595/595.pdf. Accessed 8 January 2012.

[7] See Fernandes and Heller (2006) and Ganguly-Scrase and Scrase (2009) for an overview of the discussion on the ‘middle-class’ in India. Our informants fit Fernandes and Heller's description of the ‘lower-middle class’: petit bourgeoisie and lower-ranking bureaucrats.