Transformations of the Sikh Diaspora

Abstract

Today, many people in the West believe they see in migration an external threat to their cultures and societies no less significant than the Islamic invasions that were stopped at the gates of Vienna in 1529 and 1683. The British have sought to protelct themselves from the contemporary challenge by legislating an enld to the “open house” ideal of their imperial heyday; with its concentration of alien dress, smells, language, and norms of behavior, an area like South-all has become a symbol of danger to national tradition. In France, the presence of a Muslim North African minority has stimulated a more extreme than usual defense of a presumably endangered French civilization, reflected in increasing votes for right-wing candidates wielding racist rhetoric. The easy inclusion of Algeria, Indochina, and Tunisia into “un terre Français” is the distant memory of an idealistic and apparently naive past. In Germany, the euphoria over unification has been succeeded by fears of population movements from the east that might create an intolerable economic, social, and cultural burden.