Susan Thomas - Sociality and Reciprocity among Indian Student-Migrants - SAC

Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs, The South Asia Center present:

Susan Thomas, Assistant Professor,Cultural Foundations of Education, Syracuse University

Sociality and Reciprocity among Indian Student-Migrants

Examining the migratory lives of middle class youth from India pursuing their education in the United States, this talk draws from ethnographic fieldwork to theorize the connections between migrant social networks and anthropological notions of reciprocity. Specifically, it argues that Indian student migrants’ practices of sociality produce and disrupt multiple webs of social attachments hinging on competitiveness, expectations of reciprocal exchange, and sacrifice.

Sponsored by the South Asia Center at the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs