Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/8776
Title: Sikh Migration and Settlement in Southeast Asia, 1870s-1950s: Social Transformations, Homeland, and Identity
Contributor(s): Kaur, Amarjit  (author)
Publication Date: 2011
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/8776
Abstract: Sikh migration and settlement in Southeast Asia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was a consequence of European imperialism and the British-sponsored deployment of Sikh auxiliary forces (troops and soldiery) in British-held territories in the region. The movement of Sikhs during this period corresponded with the mass proletarian migration of Indians and Chinese to the region, which was a defining feature of Asian globalization. Sikh migration was a voluntary movement and the Sikhs went from sub-imperial British India predominantly to Malaya and Burma, the two major British territories. Following the successful colonization of these territories, Sikh auxiliaries either returned to India or were absorbed in the newly created civilian police forces in the colonial territories. This male migration corridor was also utilized by independent Sikhs who sought employment either in the locally recruited police forces and subordinate government occupations, or worked as traders and dairy farmers. The Sikh auxiliary forces took the initiative for maintaining family and community stability and campaigned for family reunion and housing, a strategy that resulted in the development of distinct Sikh communities replete with Sikh cultural and religious institutions. These nascent Sikh communities in turn facilitated successive Sikh migration and the enlargement of the Sikh population in the territories.
Publication Type: Book Chapter
Source of Publication: Sikhs in Southeast Asia: Negotiating an Identity, p. 17-42
Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS)
Place of Publication: Singapore
ISBN: 9789814279666
9789814279642
9789814279659
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 160303 Migration
140203 Economic History
169903 Studies of Asian Society
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 950502 Understanding Asias Past
940399 International Relations not elsewhere classified
940304 International Political Economy (excl. International Trade)
HERDC Category Description: B1 Chapter in a Scholarly Book
Publisher/associated links: http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/161582227
Editor: Editor(s): Shamsul AB and Arunajeet Kaur
Appears in Collections:Book Chapter

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