Indian diaspora to Spaindemo-spatial analysis and immigrant integration

Resumen

During the last two decades, accelerated globalization and neoliberal economic policies have facilitated the rapid movement of capital and people around the world. Large-scale migration of people from the developing world (for example, India, which is the largest supplier of labour) to developed countries, the growing contribution of the migrant population in the development of countries of origin and the role played by the diaspora population in global politics has revived the importance of "diasporas" in academic debates and international relations. At present, there is no single source of data that can provide accurate information about all the people or their descendants that make up the diaspora population. In the first part of this dissertation, I focused on the Indian diaspora. First, I analysed different data sources that can be used to measure the size of the diaspora population and the expansion of the current space of the Indian Diaspora, which according to the Indian government has more than 30 million people living in 208 countries. Secondly, I studied the evolution of different diasporas in comparison to each other and the effect of globalization on them. By focusing on the diasporas of India and Mexico, on the one hand I explored the changing attitude of host countries towards their Diaspora population and on the other hand the impact of demographic, economic and political changes on the countries of origin in the future growth of the diaspora communities. And finally, by focusing on Indian immigration (mainly the Sikh community) to Spain, I have studied the creation of different diaspora spaces through the interrelation of immigrants and their internal mobility in the new destination countries. I have also highlighted the transcendence of transnational communication networks in the creation of virtual spaces of the diaspora, which are very dynamic and consist of different levels. Spain is a recent addition to the Indian diaspora. The immigration of Indian workers to southern Europe has elevated its position as a peripheral destination in the Indian diaspora. The second part of this dissertation focuses on the Indian immigrant population in Spain, especially on their sociodemographic profile and spatial distribution. In this part, I analysed the growth of the Indian community in Spain during the last two decades and its level of concentration and residential segregation in different metropolitan cities of Spain. I also studied the exposure of Indian immigrants to the host society and their socioeconomic status compared to other immigrant communities in Spain. The fact that the exponential increase of Indian immigration to Spain is relatively recent and the absence of historical and colonial ties between Spain and India makes this study more interesting as it gives us an opportunity to observe the expansion of the Indian diaspora to virgin territories where they do not share any common history, but now they are contributing to the formation of a very diverse society and heterogeneous neighbourhoods. In the third part of this dissertation, I examined the level of integration of Indian immigrants in different spheres of the host society and the factors responsible for it. As the Sikh population represents the majority of the Indian immigrant population in Spain, I also addressed how the different generations of Sikh immigrants in Spain face the challenge of preserving their identity and peaceful coexistence with the host society.