Asie du Sud

L'Australie

Doctoral Candidate

University of New South Wales

john.solomon@unsw.edu.au

School of History and Philosophy
University of New South Wales
AUSTRALIA

India, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan

I am a current history PhD student working on my doctoral thesis entitled,
"Identity Evolution in a Diaspora Community: The Gradual Disappearance of
Untouchability in Singapore, 1819-1970". This thesis seeks to use the
changing significance of caste identity amongst Tamil immigrants in
Singapore as a trope through which to explore the ways in which the Tamil
diaspora in Singapore has negotiated new identities amidst an evolving
cultural relationship with India. My research interests include the Tamil
diaspora, caste identity, Indian penal transportation, the Indian National
Army, the transnational spread of Dravidian politics, 19th century
missionary ethnography, Indian society in Singapore/Malaysia and
Japanese-Indian collaboration during the Second World War.

"Tamil Cultural Separatism and the decline of Pan-Indian identity in
Singapore: 1856-1965", South Asia: The Journal of South Asian Studies,
(accepted for publication).

identity ; diaspora ; untouchability ; caste ; Tamil ; nationality ; ...