In the context of dominant patriarchal gender roles, the discourse on domestic violence in (heter... more In the context of dominant patriarchal gender roles, the discourse on domestic violence in (heterosexual) families directs attention to women’s experience of abuse from their male partners. Introducing international migration in this equation, however, complicates the discourse. Focusing on immigrants who live with a degree of precarity (undocumented immigrant families, dependents, and immigrant families on temporary legal statuses), I argue that a more expansive and nuanced meaning of violence should be applied to immigrant domestic strife because the contexts in which international migration occurs has the potential to inflict harm on all members of the family, including men. The central argument is supported with ethnographic material and semi-structured interviews conducted with immigrant Sikh families in the United States and Punjab, India, analysis of news reports on abandoned Sikh husbands and wives as well as secondary literature. An integral part of the analysis involves reflection on the meaning of family violence in the context of international migration.
This is an essay published in the online magazine - Americankahani.com - based on my research on ... more This is an essay published in the online magazine - Americankahani.com - based on my research on immigrant Sikhs in the US. Please go to the site to find the article or you can send a request directly to me as well.
Much of the popular analysis of the 2020 farmers protests in India identifies an "authoritarian" ... more Much of the popular analysis of the 2020 farmers protests in India identifies an "authoritarian" BJP government as the primary antagonistic force threatening the livelihoods of farmers in major grain producing states such as Punjab. This paper is motivated by concern that such a "methodologically nationalist" and "presentist" account risks obscuring more than it reveals regarding what is at stake in the contestations over the 2020 farm laws. It addresses these limitations by asking instead how the contestation over the farm laws renews the confrontation over the appropriation of the surplus value of the "agrarian South" that was set in motion by the rise of the neoliberal form of global capital accumulation in the late twentieth century. Locating the contemporary moment within the long history and broader geography of neoliberal capitalist imperialism brings to light the accumulation imperatives of global financial-agribusiness capital as key motive forces underpinning the farm laws. Attention is thus drawn in this paper to how the deepening of the privatization, liberalization, and financialization of agriculture in the Global South remains a key strategy for addressing global capital's structural crises of overproduction and over-accumulation. The paper argues that the intensification of neoliberal agrarian restructuring in India via the 2020 farm laws has opened further space for both a familiar mode of global agribusiness accumulation that aims to capture the surplus value of the real agricultural economy and for an emergent agritech mode of accumulation that is centered more on harvesting data in order to generate profits through financial speculation in the derivative agricultural economy. The paper concludes by emphasizing that the farmers movement is correct in contesting the farm laws, as the deepening of Indian agriculture's integration into global capitalism threatens to render farmers into a category of permanently surplus labor. 6 This refers in particular to three laws: Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act; Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act; Essential Commodities Act. For a detailed discussion on the specific terms of the laws and their potential consequences see Narayanan, 2020. 7 This concern was mainly associated with the first of the three laws-the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce Act-which reduces the authority of the Mandi board to regulate agricultural market transactions and opens a broader unregulated "trade area" that includes electronic trading platforms. Concerns have also been expressed that the Essential Commodities Act, in removing stockholding limits, clears the way for larger traders to hoard supplies and potentially drive down prices paid to farmers and drive up prices charged to consumers.
The farmers and laborers were two primary stakeholders who comprised a majority of protesters at ... more The farmers and laborers were two primary stakeholders who comprised a majority of protesters at the most recent farmers movement on the borders of Delhi, the capital of India. While the farmers are mainly the land-owning upper caste communities known as Jats (Sikhs in Punjab and Hindus in other northern states), the laborers belong to generally landless lower castes (referred to as Dalits). The farmers' movement saw overwhelming use of the slogan Kisan Mazdoor Ekta Zindabad (Long Live the Unity of Farmer and Laborer). Both groups provided strength to the farmers movement which eventually succeeded in repealing the three farm laws passed by the central government of India. However, the relationship between farmers and laborers has a dark side too. The interests of both groups are opposed to each other's because Jats want to continue their domination over Dalits, including keeping them underpaid and as bonded laborers. The Dalits are gradually asserting themselves. They hope to become landowners by acquiring villages' common land that are reserved for Dalit communities.
In this paper, I show that immigration consulting agencies in the Doaba region of Punjab, India, ... more In this paper, I show that immigration consulting agencies in the Doaba region of Punjab, India, mobilise the imaginary of the ‘West’ as a place to be successful and modern in order to sell their services. My focus is on the design of promotional materials created by the agencies that are well integrated into the visual landscape of this region. Thus I analyse this imaginary as presented in banners, posters, and signboards. The visual data is complemented with semi structured interviews conducted with staff and owners at the agencies, ethnographic observations as well as information gleaned from the agencies’ websites. The study is novel in its exploration of the visual environment in pre-migration contexts where international migration is portrayed as a central path to prosperity. It is exploratory in nature and raises many questions for future researchers to pursue.
In this introductory essay, I reflect on the connection between pedagogy and activism and introdu... more In this introductory essay, I reflect on the connection between pedagogy and activism and introduce the three contributors to this special section on the topic. More specifically, I chart key points in the history of sociology in the West asking readers to consider whether sociology has ever been value‐free. In the process, I invoke sociologists who thought it essential for integration of sociological thought and practice (albeit not necessarily in the form of activism), ponder the meaning of science and think about the meaning of an education in sociology. As part of the discussion, I also present my position on sociology, pedagogy, and activism.
I examine how immigrant Punjabi-Sikhs make sense of themselves as yellow cabbies in New York with... more I examine how immigrant Punjabi-Sikhs make sense of themselves as yellow cabbies in New York with two complementary frameworks-Hill Collins' "matrix of domination" and insights from the literature exploring the interplay between race and ethnicity. The cabbies discussed their immigrant status, non-whiteness, and social class as influential, emphasizing the effects of all three forms of marginalization as occurring simultaneously. They deployed "money" to frame this subordination and to negotiate dimensions of social location and identity. The transnational space they occupied emerges noteworthy too in their identity making. This analysis, based on interviews with 56 cabbies, advances scholarship on race and immigration/transnationalism, Asian and South Asian American identities, specifically research on immigrant Sikhs of lower socioeconomic status, attention on whom is scant.
Harjant Gill, in the documentary film, Sent Away Boys, explores connections between Jat Sikh masc... more Harjant Gill, in the documentary film, Sent Away Boys, explores connections between Jat Sikh masculinity, success and international migration to the West. The film is part of a series on masculinity. Roots of Love and Mardistan precede this one. All three films examine Jat Sikh masculinity, but each is distinct in its focus on its particular dimension. Here, I review them with special attention to Sent Away Boys. I integrate scholarship that have reflected on this topic. Additionally, I relate my current research on the subject and my prior research on immigrant Sikh yellow cabbies in New York City.
Although the scholarship on social capital and immigrant economic incorporation has sufficiently ... more Although the scholarship on social capital and immigrant economic incorporation has sufficiently documented how immigrants mobilize social capital in their search for employment which often leads to the formation of immigrant niches, how social capital is processed after immigrants acquire employment and its significance for the preservation of immigrant employment niches is less well explored. This paper addresses this gap in the literature with a case study of immigrant Punjabi taxi drivers in the New York metropolitan area. In particular, this study shows how a group of immigrant Punjabi taxi drivers mobilized social capital via embeddedness in co-ethnic social networks and improved their working conditions – a process that must be considered in explanations of the Punjabi niche in the taxi industry for more than two decades. The study has implications for the relationship between social capital and the structure of the workplace or industry where immigrants are incorporated and its subsequent impact on immigrant economic trajectories. Further, this study contributes to the debate on the usefulness of ethnic communities for the adaptation of immigrant groups. Additionally, this research is relevant to the scholarship on the economic adaptation of South Asian (a subset of Asian Americans) immigrants, an understudied immigrant group in the United States.
In the context of dominant patriarchal gender roles, the discourse on domestic violence in (heter... more In the context of dominant patriarchal gender roles, the discourse on domestic violence in (heterosexual) families directs attention to women’s experience of abuse from their male partners. Introducing international migration in this equation, however, complicates the discourse. Focusing on immigrants who live with a degree of precarity (undocumented immigrant families, dependents, and immigrant families on temporary legal statuses), I argue that a more expansive and nuanced meaning of violence should be applied to immigrant domestic strife because the contexts in which international migration occurs has the potential to inflict harm on all members of the family, including men. The central argument is supported with ethnographic material and semi-structured interviews conducted with immigrant Sikh families in the United States and Punjab, India, analysis of news reports on abandoned Sikh husbands and wives as well as secondary literature. An integral part of the analysis involves reflection on the meaning of family violence in the context of international migration.
This is an essay published in the online magazine - Americankahani.com - based on my research on ... more This is an essay published in the online magazine - Americankahani.com - based on my research on immigrant Sikhs in the US. Please go to the site to find the article or you can send a request directly to me as well.
Much of the popular analysis of the 2020 farmers protests in India identifies an "authoritarian" ... more Much of the popular analysis of the 2020 farmers protests in India identifies an "authoritarian" BJP government as the primary antagonistic force threatening the livelihoods of farmers in major grain producing states such as Punjab. This paper is motivated by concern that such a "methodologically nationalist" and "presentist" account risks obscuring more than it reveals regarding what is at stake in the contestations over the 2020 farm laws. It addresses these limitations by asking instead how the contestation over the farm laws renews the confrontation over the appropriation of the surplus value of the "agrarian South" that was set in motion by the rise of the neoliberal form of global capital accumulation in the late twentieth century. Locating the contemporary moment within the long history and broader geography of neoliberal capitalist imperialism brings to light the accumulation imperatives of global financial-agribusiness capital as key motive forces underpinning the farm laws. Attention is thus drawn in this paper to how the deepening of the privatization, liberalization, and financialization of agriculture in the Global South remains a key strategy for addressing global capital's structural crises of overproduction and over-accumulation. The paper argues that the intensification of neoliberal agrarian restructuring in India via the 2020 farm laws has opened further space for both a familiar mode of global agribusiness accumulation that aims to capture the surplus value of the real agricultural economy and for an emergent agritech mode of accumulation that is centered more on harvesting data in order to generate profits through financial speculation in the derivative agricultural economy. The paper concludes by emphasizing that the farmers movement is correct in contesting the farm laws, as the deepening of Indian agriculture's integration into global capitalism threatens to render farmers into a category of permanently surplus labor. 6 This refers in particular to three laws: Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act; Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act; Essential Commodities Act. For a detailed discussion on the specific terms of the laws and their potential consequences see Narayanan, 2020. 7 This concern was mainly associated with the first of the three laws-the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce Act-which reduces the authority of the Mandi board to regulate agricultural market transactions and opens a broader unregulated "trade area" that includes electronic trading platforms. Concerns have also been expressed that the Essential Commodities Act, in removing stockholding limits, clears the way for larger traders to hoard supplies and potentially drive down prices paid to farmers and drive up prices charged to consumers.
The farmers and laborers were two primary stakeholders who comprised a majority of protesters at ... more The farmers and laborers were two primary stakeholders who comprised a majority of protesters at the most recent farmers movement on the borders of Delhi, the capital of India. While the farmers are mainly the land-owning upper caste communities known as Jats (Sikhs in Punjab and Hindus in other northern states), the laborers belong to generally landless lower castes (referred to as Dalits). The farmers' movement saw overwhelming use of the slogan Kisan Mazdoor Ekta Zindabad (Long Live the Unity of Farmer and Laborer). Both groups provided strength to the farmers movement which eventually succeeded in repealing the three farm laws passed by the central government of India. However, the relationship between farmers and laborers has a dark side too. The interests of both groups are opposed to each other's because Jats want to continue their domination over Dalits, including keeping them underpaid and as bonded laborers. The Dalits are gradually asserting themselves. They hope to become landowners by acquiring villages' common land that are reserved for Dalit communities.
In this paper, I show that immigration consulting agencies in the Doaba region of Punjab, India, ... more In this paper, I show that immigration consulting agencies in the Doaba region of Punjab, India, mobilise the imaginary of the ‘West’ as a place to be successful and modern in order to sell their services. My focus is on the design of promotional materials created by the agencies that are well integrated into the visual landscape of this region. Thus I analyse this imaginary as presented in banners, posters, and signboards. The visual data is complemented with semi structured interviews conducted with staff and owners at the agencies, ethnographic observations as well as information gleaned from the agencies’ websites. The study is novel in its exploration of the visual environment in pre-migration contexts where international migration is portrayed as a central path to prosperity. It is exploratory in nature and raises many questions for future researchers to pursue.
In this introductory essay, I reflect on the connection between pedagogy and activism and introdu... more In this introductory essay, I reflect on the connection between pedagogy and activism and introduce the three contributors to this special section on the topic. More specifically, I chart key points in the history of sociology in the West asking readers to consider whether sociology has ever been value‐free. In the process, I invoke sociologists who thought it essential for integration of sociological thought and practice (albeit not necessarily in the form of activism), ponder the meaning of science and think about the meaning of an education in sociology. As part of the discussion, I also present my position on sociology, pedagogy, and activism.
I examine how immigrant Punjabi-Sikhs make sense of themselves as yellow cabbies in New York with... more I examine how immigrant Punjabi-Sikhs make sense of themselves as yellow cabbies in New York with two complementary frameworks-Hill Collins' "matrix of domination" and insights from the literature exploring the interplay between race and ethnicity. The cabbies discussed their immigrant status, non-whiteness, and social class as influential, emphasizing the effects of all three forms of marginalization as occurring simultaneously. They deployed "money" to frame this subordination and to negotiate dimensions of social location and identity. The transnational space they occupied emerges noteworthy too in their identity making. This analysis, based on interviews with 56 cabbies, advances scholarship on race and immigration/transnationalism, Asian and South Asian American identities, specifically research on immigrant Sikhs of lower socioeconomic status, attention on whom is scant.
Harjant Gill, in the documentary film, Sent Away Boys, explores connections between Jat Sikh masc... more Harjant Gill, in the documentary film, Sent Away Boys, explores connections between Jat Sikh masculinity, success and international migration to the West. The film is part of a series on masculinity. Roots of Love and Mardistan precede this one. All three films examine Jat Sikh masculinity, but each is distinct in its focus on its particular dimension. Here, I review them with special attention to Sent Away Boys. I integrate scholarship that have reflected on this topic. Additionally, I relate my current research on the subject and my prior research on immigrant Sikh yellow cabbies in New York City.
Although the scholarship on social capital and immigrant economic incorporation has sufficiently ... more Although the scholarship on social capital and immigrant economic incorporation has sufficiently documented how immigrants mobilize social capital in their search for employment which often leads to the formation of immigrant niches, how social capital is processed after immigrants acquire employment and its significance for the preservation of immigrant employment niches is less well explored. This paper addresses this gap in the literature with a case study of immigrant Punjabi taxi drivers in the New York metropolitan area. In particular, this study shows how a group of immigrant Punjabi taxi drivers mobilized social capital via embeddedness in co-ethnic social networks and improved their working conditions – a process that must be considered in explanations of the Punjabi niche in the taxi industry for more than two decades. The study has implications for the relationship between social capital and the structure of the workplace or industry where immigrants are incorporated and its subsequent impact on immigrant economic trajectories. Further, this study contributes to the debate on the usefulness of ethnic communities for the adaptation of immigrant groups. Additionally, this research is relevant to the scholarship on the economic adaptation of South Asian (a subset of Asian Americans) immigrants, an understudied immigrant group in the United States.
Harjant Gill, in the documentary film, Sent Away Boys, explores connections between Jat Sikh masc... more Harjant Gill, in the documentary film, Sent Away Boys, explores connections between Jat Sikh masculinity, success and international migration to the West. The film is part of a series on masculinity. Roots of Love and Mardistan precede this one. All three films examine Jat Sikh masculinity, but each is distinct in its focus on its particular dimension. Here, I review them with special attention to Sent Away Boys. I integrate scholarship that have reflected on this topic. Additionally, I relate my current research on the subject and my prior research on immigrant Sikh yellow cabbies in New York City.
I examine how immigrant Punjabi-Sikhs make sense of themselves as yellow cabbies in New York with... more I examine how immigrant Punjabi-Sikhs make sense of themselves as yellow cabbies in New York with two complementary frameworks—Hill Collins’ “matrix of domination” and insights from the literature exploring the interplay between race and ethnicity. The cabbies discussed their immigrant status, non-whiteness, and social class as influential, emphasizing the effects of all three forms of marginalization as occurring simultaneously. They deployed “money” to frame this subordination and to negotiate dimensions of social location and identity. The transnational space they occupied emerges noteworthy too in their identity making. This analysis, based on interviews with 56 cabbies, advances scholarship on race and immigration/transnationalism, Asian and South Asian American identities, specifically research on immigrant Sikhs of lower socioeconomic status, attention on whom is scant.
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