Life-Course Chances and Inter-Generational Power Relations Among Hindu-Gujarati Diaspora Women of Portugal
摘要
This chapter results from ethnographic studies among women belonging to a Hindu-Gujarati community in the Greater Lisbon Area. Hindu-Gujarati migration to Portugal results from long historical relations between Portugal and its colonies in Africa and India. It primarily focuses on the question of how family and gender relations are reproduced and reconceptualized within the diaspora. It employs the concepts of transnationalism and intersectionality to compare the socio-economic and cultural experiences of these women and to explore how the power structure of gender determines their access to life-course chances in Portugal. Due to the uniqueness of Portuguese citizenship, the chapter also discusses questions related to identity and belongingness of this group through discourses on hierarchy and otherness. Women generally tend to be more burdened with the task of reproducing Hindu-Gujarati culture in Portugal, while it is more acceptable for men to integrate western cultural elements into their lives. There also exist differences between women born in Portugal and those who become associated with the diaspora through arranged marriages.