Now and Then - Diasporic Identity Processes among South Asian Young Adults in Scandinavia

This paper explores some social-psychological aspects for South Asian Young Adults in Denmark such as identity processes through social relations across the geographical borders and psychological diaspora consciousness and is a follow up of the project conducted in the mid-nineties, in Denmark (N= 14). The diasporic conceptualisations focussing on human centeredness and processes in migration combined with life course perspective provide theoretical framework for this study.

The method used is in-depth interviews, analysed through condensation and meaningful categorisation of the narratives. The young adults are perceived as active actors in relation to their life situation. The results show the young adults as well as parental generations´ reinterpretation of the self, other and home. They also depict that the young adults’ diasporic identities involve the countries of origin as well as the Scandinavian welfare societies. However, the myth of return is not supported, although the countries of residence have turned increasingly restrictive in migration policies in the past years