Paper short abstract:

Rapid globalization has resulted in large scale migration from India, over the last decade. The paper aims to explore the high skilled migration from India and the dynamics of privileges and problems of skilled professional migrants and their families.

Paper long abstract:

Conradson (2005) defined the term ‘middling migrants’ as a diverse category of mobile migrants who can be categorized as skilled immigrants in a higher income category. The gendered dimension to the phenomenon is less explored and the spouse women in this process of migration remain largely invisible (Raj, 2000).

As wives of professional Indian migrant men, the spouses are themselves often professionals and highly educated but following migration, their professional life often faces a disruption or change in their professional identities creating a strong undercurrent of disaffection, with distinct implications for their wellbeing. As the changes occur within a global context, these ‘spouses’ occupy a contradictory gendered positioning within the Indian diaspora, creating complex intersectionality.

Are they global mascots of gender role ideal and cultural continuity of a nationalist ideal? Or is their invisibility hiding gendered and neo-racial connotations affecting their lives, overshadowed by class empowered position? Its implications are an area worthy of further study.

The presentation aims to explore the fragmented identity construction within the Indian diaspora through existing literature and collected data on Indian female trailing spouses exploring the relevance of identifying gaps and establishing the need for understanding of this phenomenon. The study aims to understand the complex post-colonial intersectionality hidden in the situation via a critical feminist epistemological framework. A qualitative transnational study employing in-depth interviews and narrative methods for data collection has been conducted as part of this doctoral thesis to explore this phenomenon.