The Palgrave Handbook of Indian Migrants to South East Asia

by S. Irudaya Rajan (Editor)

Overview

This Handbook is a charting exercise to determine contemporary patterns of Indian migration to Southeast Asia. It will determine two waves/sectors of the Indian migration process to Southeast Asia, high skilled migration and semi-skilled to low skilled migration. However, such a research project is not complete without understanding the context of social and political dilemmas of Indian communities in Southeast Asia as well as the interstitial spaces some Indian migrants or migrant communities might fall through as stateless Indians or Indian communities. The Handbook is premised largely on Indian-ASEAN, twenty-five years of partnering relations in diplomacy, politics, economy, people to people exchange, human capital development and exchange as well as coordinated infrastructural development. It reinforces the much-discussed ‘Look East’ and current ‘Act East’ initiatives of the Indian government, highlighting cooperation with the Southeast Asian and East Asian economies, as some political perspectives suggest, to counterbalance China’s economic influence in the region.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789819642038
Publisher:	Springer Nature Singapore
Publication date:	09/08/2025
Pages:	741
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

S. Irudaya Rajan is Chair of the International Institute of Migration and Development, Kerala, India. Prior to this, he was a Professor at the Centre for Development Studies. Prof. Rajan is the Founder Editor in Chief of Migration and Development (Sage) and the editor of two Routledge series - India Migration Report and South Asia Migration Report. He has coordinated nine large-scale migration surveys in Kerala since 1998 (with K.C. Zachariah) and replicated the Kerala model of migration surveys in other states, including Goa (2008), Punjab (2009), Tamil Nadu (2015), and Odisha (2023) and has been instrumental in similar surveys in Gujarat (2011), and Jharkhand (2023).

Table of Contents

Part I: Introduction.- 1. Indians and Indian Diaspora in Southeast Asia.- Part II: Indian Communities in South East Asia.- 2. Indian Community in Vietnam.- 3. Act East policy and the politics of the non-recognized Thai-Indian diasporic community in Thailand.- 4. Indians in Singapore: A Community in Flux.- 5. Migrant Entrepreneurship: Indian Businesses in Southern Philippines.- 6. The Indian Migrant Community in Laos: A socio - cultural understanding.- 7. Indians in Myanmar.- 8. Tracing the Footsteps: The Legacy of the Indian Community in Malaysia.- 9. Conclusion. 10. Indian Migration to Indonesia.- 11. Indian Diaspora in Timor-Leste.- 12. Indian diaspora in Cambodia.- 13. Indians in Brunei: Journey, network, and diasporic life.- Part III: High skilled migrants to South East Asia.- 14. Trends of High Skilled Indian Migration to Southeast Asia.- 15. The Everyday Law and Life of Indian “Expatriates” in Malaysia.- 16. Skilled migration and the Indian diaspora in Thailand.- 17. Contemporary Indian high skilled migration to Indonesia: Trends and Challenges.- 18. Indian Professionals in the Information Technology Enabled Services and Companies in the Philippines.- 19. Indians in the Lion City: Congruity and Fissures between ‘Old’ Singaporean Indians and ‘New’ Indian Expat Professionals.- Part IV: Semi skilled to Low skilled migration.- 20. Migration intermediaries and the brokerage of mobilities.- 21. Home Away from Home: Exploring South Asian Migrant Workers Participation in the Agricultural Sector in Malaysia.- 22. Low-skilled Indian migrants in South East Asia.- 23. Myanmar: Comparative Migrant Experience: Review of Migrant Refugees in the Contemporary Times.- 24. In search of a better life: The Lived Experiences of the “Indian Barbers” in Malaysia.- 25. Low waged Migrant Men and COVID-19 in Singapore.- 26. Migrant Indian Worers in Malaysis's F&B Industry: Challenges and Prospects.- Part V: Statelessness in South East Asia.- 27. Statelessness Among Malaysian Indians: Historical Roots, Contemporary Challenges, and Pathways to Citizenship.- 28. From Myanmar to India: Unveiling the Struggle of Rohingya Refugees.- 29. Stateless Rohingyas in India: Life in Protracted Refugeehood.- 30. ‘Legal Ghosts’: Indians of Stateless Origin in the Philippines.- Part VI: Comparative Perspectives.- 31. Indian Diaspora: Contributions of Indian Skilled Migration.- 32. Migration from India to the United States: Post COVID-Era Trends in Both Documented and Undocumented Migrants.- 33. Skilled and Semi-Skilled Migration of Indians to the European Union.- 34. Punjabi economic migration to Canada: A success story.- 35. Exploring the links between labour migration from India to the Gulf countries and South-East Asia.- 36. Internationalization of ASEAN higher education: an emigrational transit or destination for students from Southern Asia.- 37. Emerging Trends and Future of Indian Migration to South East Asia.- 38. India ASEAN Relations and Emerging Migration and Diaspora Issues in Southeast Asia.