Superdiverse Diaspora, Demelza Jones

Drawing on in-depth qualitative research, this book provides a nuanced picture of the everyday identifications experienced and expressed among the superdiverse Tamil migrant population in Britain. It presents the first detailed analysis of the narrative and experiences of Tamils from a diversity of backgrounds - including Sri Lankan, Indian, Singaporean and Malaysian - and addresses the question of their identification with a Tamil diaspora in Britain.

Theoretically informed by Brubakers conception of diaspora as process and Werbners notion of diasporas as both aesthetic and moral communities, Jones examines political engagements alongside other, less studied, frames of Tamil migrants lives: social relationships (local and transnational), the domestic space of home, and performances of faith and ritual. Considering diaspora as a process or practice allows the author to reveal a complex landscape upon which being Tamil and doing Tamil-ness in diaspora are diversely enacted.

Combining original ethnographic research with a theoretical engagement in the key debates in migration, diaspora, ethnicity and superdiversity studies, this book makes a novel contribution to scholarship on Tamil populations and will advance critical understandings of the concept of diaspora more generally.