Twice Migrated, Twice Displaced

Twice Migrated, Twice Displaced explores the lives of Gulf South Asians who arrived in the Greater Toronto Area from India and Pakistan via Persian Gulf countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Like most modern migration, their journey was not point A to point B, but rather it was a two- or three-step process. Drawing on in-depth interviews, Tania Das Gupta reveals the multiple migration patterns of this unique group, and the class, gender, racial, and religious discrimination they have encountered both during their journey and upon arrival in Canada. She analyzes themes such as class mobility, the formation of transnational families, and identities in a post-9/11 context. More broadly, she asks how the Canadian labour market affects transnationalism and if immigrants are being strategic in their use of step migration and transnational living practices. Das Gupta concludes that neoliberal economies in South Asia, the Gulf, and Canada create conditions for flexible labour by privatizing and diminishing social welfare. As migrants then search for employment, families are split across borders – making those relationships more precarious. The result is the development of ambivalent, hybrid identities – with implications for community building, diaspora, citizenship, and migrants’ sense of belonging in Canada.