Enclaves: A manifestation of class and race divisions
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Although the idea of ethnic enclaves is only briefly discussed or alluded to in the readings, I believe it lends to an important space in the discussion of race and class. An ethnic enclave represent a complex space. It is a creation of a common space for the undesired aliens. It is an ersatz home away from home. But, on a more sociological level, it represents the physical manifestation of a class-system based on race and origins not only between White settlers and migrants but also within the communities.
The early South-Asians didn’t form ethnic enclaves like the Italians, the Greeks and the Jews. I imagine this phenomenon as a kink in the class system. One reason for this may be their sheer lack of number and somewhat wider distribution. Another may be their less-then-welcoming legal status.
But I want to put forth another hypothesis, specifically concerning the South-Asians. It was their status as citizens (in whatever capacity) of the British Empire that made them particularly frustrated about their treatment in the English-speaking world, especially in Canada. If we focus even more closely on the Sikhs who landed on the western part of the continent, we find that they may have been the most frustrated. Sikhs had been in the Imperial Army and had acquired the status of a ‘martial race’. This status, mythical though it might be, had given Sikhs some sense of racial equality with the Whites on top of a sense of legal equality as citizens of the British Empire.
This brings us back to the differences between the arguments presented by Singh as opposed to Choudhry and Khan. I am not proposing that Singh necessarily worked from a position of racial superiority to his ethnic counter-parts. I am simply suggesting that when it comes to formation of ethnic enclaves or just a platform for ‘sticking together’, some extent of internal cohesion is important. Therefore, although there may have been a sense of ‘Indianness’ among South-Asians, the racial and class (or even caste) element may have hindered the project of enclave formation to some extent. The Khalsa Diwan society, founded in 1906, promoted the social, political and economic welfare of Sikhs and was backed by Gurdwaras. Although, it may not have been exclusive to Sikhs, the simple fact that it had been organized by religious institutions tells us that ethnic enclaves may have been difficult to form because, at that point in time, religious identity was quickly becoming the biggest division of identity in the Subcontinent.
So, when the time came to argue for equality, Singh was understandably more inclined to propose “we are just like you” as a rapprochement away from other races. In opposition, Khan and Choudhry were arguing more in terms of the long-standing social contribution of the Indians. So, in an interesting turn of events, not only do ethnicities have to struggle to ‘prove their worth’ as useful and contributive member of the host society in order to climb up social hierarchies, but within the communities there exists an class competition. As a result, class becomes relative; either relative to the host community or relative to the ethnic community.
Nevertheless, focusing on the more ‘acceptable’ members out of the 3000 Indians would have been a simple tactic that would have made a breakthrough into naturalization – at least for some members at that point and then, perhaps, for all.
Unassigned Source: Roy, Anjali. Imperialism and Sikh Migration: The Komagata Maru Incident. London: Routledge, 2017.