Gujaratis in the West: Evolving Identities in Contemporary Society

Gujaratis in the West: Evolving Identities in Contemporary Society is uniquely placed in that it is a compilation of the works of scholars focusing on the diverse nature of Gujarati communities. This volume offers an insight, through different lenses and in varying contexts, of the complexities faced by particular Gujarati communities in a specific time and space. In contemporary societies the concept of identity has taken on greater importance and there are now increasing debates relating to the locality of certain communities, their allegiance to the nation states in which they reside as well as their links to the land of their ancestors. Gujaratis in the West investigates how Gujaratis, who are considered to be successful and integrated, construct and express their complex religious, linguistic and ethnic identities in the contexts of the nations in which they reside. Most of the previous research on the identities of minority ethnic communities in the West who originate in South Asia has focussed on disadvantaged and less-well integrated groups. In these challenging times for Gujarati, as well as other communities, especially those residing in the West, the location of their identities in an increasingly complex global diversity takes on added significance.