Provincial Globalisation

Programme directors:

Postdoctoral researchers:

  • Dr. Puja Guha
  • Dr. Leah Koskimaki

PhD students:

  • Ms Sanam Roohi (NIAS)
  • Ms Sanderien Verstappen (AISSR)
  • Ms Sulagna Mustafi (NIAS)

Research associates:

  • Ms. Jananie Kalyanaraman
  • Ms. Anju Christine Lingham
  • Ms. Keya Bardalai 

Provincial Globalisation (‘ProGlo’) was a collaborative international research programme of NIAS and the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR), University of Amsterdam, supported by WOTRO, the Netherlands. The aim of the programme, which ran from 2010 to 2015, was to explore processes of globalisation in provincial towns by focusing on the impact of ‘reverse’ transnational flows of migrant resources in the home regions. The component projects mapped these resource flows in three regions of India – central Gujarat, coastal Andhra Pradesh and coastal Karnataka – and explored their impacts on social development.

While most research on the relation between international migration and development has focused on the economic impacts of migrant remittances at the national or state levels, our effort was to unravel the multi-dimensional composition and outcomes of transnational flows comparatively at the regional level. The component PhD and postdoctoral projects documented in detail the diversity of material resources that are sent to their home regions in India by migrant and diasporic groups, such as household remittances, investments in land or businesses, and financial support for NGOs, as well as ‘intangible’ flows such as new development aspirations, cultural identities, and religious ideologies. The programme has produced significant academic outputs, contributing to the literatures on globalisation, transnationalism, and migration. The research results are also relevant to national and international policy debates on migration and development and on India’s relationship with Overseas Indians.

For more information please visit the Provincial Globalisation website

Carol Upadhya
Professor

The Provincial Globalisation programme consists of five inter-linked PhD and postdoc projects:

Postdoctoral Projects:

  • Migration, Transnational Flows and Development in Provincial India: An Economic Perspective: Puja Guha
  • (In)visibilities: Mapping Development’s Publics and Patrons in India’s Coastal Regions: Leah M. Koskimaki

PhD Projects:

  • Transnationalism and Beary Identity in Dakshin Kannada, India: Sulagna Mustafi (NIAS)
  • A Transnational Moral Economy: Provincial Diaspora Philanthropy in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India: Sanam Roohi (NIAS)
  • International Migration and Development among Charotar Sunni Vohras in Central Gujarat, India: Sanderien Verstappen (AISSR)

Book Chapters

  1. Upadhya, Carol . 2021. “Cultures of work in India's new economy”. In Critical themes in Indian sociology, Critical themes in Indian sociology, New Delhi : Sage.
  2. Upadhya, Carol . 2020. “A love for land: transregional property investments in Andhra”. In Provincial globalization in India: transregional mobilities and development politics, Provincial globalization in India: transregional mobilities and development politics, London: Routledge.

Books

Journal Articles

  1. Upadhya, Carol , and Sachinkumar Rathod. 2021. “Caste at the City’s Edge: Land Struggles in Peri-urban Bengaluru”. South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal 26: 01-28.
  2. Dutt, Neesha . 2017. “Being Green?”. Seminar 694: 50-54. http://india-seminar.com/semframe.html.
  3. Goldman, Michael , Vinay Gidwani, and Carol Upadhya. 2017. “Bangalore's 'Great Transformation' - The Problem”. Seminar 694: 12-16. http://india-seminar.com/semframe.html.
  4. Upadhya, Carol . 2017. “Afterword: Middle Class Activism and Bangalore's Environmental Predicament”. International Development Policy Revue Internationale de Politique de Developpement 8(2). http://poldev.revues.org/2488.
  5. Upadhya, Carol , and Leah Koskimaki. 2017. “Reconsidering the Region in India (Special Issue)”. Journal of South Asian Development 12 (2 ).
  6. Sunder, Sumithra . 2017. “Fighting for a Public Space”. Seminar 694: 65-69. http://india-seminar.com/semframe.html.

ProGlo website and Facebook page:

  • A public website for the ProGlo programme (www.provglo.org) was launched in March 2011, which is serving as a platform to publicise the programme’s activities and disseminate the research findings. Total number of page views from March 1, 2011 to August 25, 2015: 300 (26.6% returning visitors and 73.4% new visitors).

  • A Facebook page (was created in September 2011 to serve as a forum for exchange of ideas with the stakeholders of the programme as well as interested researchers and the public.  Total number of page likes from March 5, 2012 to August 25, 2015: 162.

NIAS Public Lecture Series on Mobility and Transnationalism:

  • ‘The Civic and Political Activism of Indian American Groups’ by Prof. Prema Kurien, Department of Sociology, Syracuse University, January 3, 2014.

  • ‘Culture of Business and Investment in Andhra Pradesh’ by Dr. S. Ananth, Independent Researcher, Hyderabad, November 9, 2012.

  • ‘The Uncertainties of Return - Preliminary Findings from Fieldwork among Highly Skilled Indian Professionals in Bangalore’ by Helene Ilkjaer, PhD Candidate, University of Copenhagen, May 21, 2012.

  • ‘Imagined Landscapes: Europe through the Gaze of Indian Youth’ by Prof. Meenakshi Thapan, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, February 13, 2012.

  • ‘Transnational Discontents: Migration, Marriage and Desertion of Wives in Indian Punjab’ by V. J. Varghese, Central University of Punjab, November 18, 2011.

  • ‘Migrating for an Education: Family, Gender and Social Mobility among Caribbean Nurses in Britain’ by Prof. Karen Fog Olwig, Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen, November 9, 2011.

Media reports:

  • Newspaper article in The Hindu on Prof. Carol Upadhya’s talk at Siddhartha Institute of Technology, Vijayawada, published on November 22, 2013. See link

  • Newspaper article in The Hindu on Prof. Carol Upadhya, published on January 31, 2013. See link

  • News article in Coastal Digest online portal on Stakeholders’ meeting, held in Mangalore, organised by Provincial Globalisation, published on January 31, 2012.  See link

  • Newspaper article in Kanada newspaper Varthabharathi on the Provincial Globalisation Research Programme following the Stakeholders’ meeting in Mangalore, published on January 31, 2012. See link

  • Newspaper article in The Hindu on Stakeholders’ meeting, held in Mangalore, organised by Provincial Globalisation, published on January 31, 2012. See link

  • Newspaper article in The Hindu on Stakeholders’ meeting on Non-Resident Indians’ Contribution to Development in Guntur, organised by Provincial Globalisation, published on January 17, 2012. See link

  • Newspaper article in The Hindu on Stakeholders’ meeting, held in Guntur, organised by Provincial Globalisation, published on January 17, 2012. See link

  • ProGlo PhD student Sanam Roohi speaks about her project to ITV Telugu Channel, published on July 20, 2012. See link

 

Documentary films:

 

  • Transnational Village Day(Part I completed in 2015, Part II in editing process), by Dakxin Bajrange, Mario Rutten and Sanderien Verstappen (University of Amsterdam, 2016). https://vimeo.com/152026257
  • The ‘Non-Resident’ Returns, by Vanaja C., Carol Upadhya, and Sanam Roohi (NIAS, 2016). https://vimeo.com/163534143

 

For more information please visit the Provincial Globalisation website

»Please also visit the UvA Programme page