2026/03/01 by Sanderien Verstappen
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Anthropological Studies and Insights #South Asian Studies and Conflicts #South Asian Studies and Diaspora
paper · pdf · doi:10.3167/sa.2026.700104
Abstract This article engages with anthropological discussions about the relation between imagination and migration, using the concept of ‘reorientation’. This notion is explained with ethnographic examples and then conceptually synthesized, incorporating anthropological analyses about space (in the sense of spatial orientation) and time (in the sense of orienting toward the future). The article describes the rural-urban mobility of Gujarati Muslims in western India and the transnational mobility of overseas Gujarati Muslims in the UK and the US. A shift in orientation in space and time has occurred among the region's residents and their transnational kin, who have come to see the town of Anand as a relatively new regional center. This change has been prompted by simultaneous processes of urbanization and violence-induced residential segregation. These stories of Anand draw attention to powerful rural-urban dichotomies and to assessments of how and where religious minorities can be safe and live a better life.