Chinese Calcuttawallah: Articulating a Diaspora Ethnic Identity in India

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Kunaljeet Roy (Assistant Professor in School of Social Sciences and Languages, Birla Institute of Technology and Science) Sukla Basu (Associate Professor of Geography, West Bengal State University, India)

Chinese Calcuttawallah

Articulating a Diaspora Ethnic Identity in India

Kunaljeet Roy (Assistant Professor in School of Social Sciences and Languages, Birla Institute of Technology and Science), Sukla Basu (Associate Professor of Geography, West Bengal State University, India)

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English

Edinburgh University Press
30 November 2025

Migration, immigration & emigration; Population & demography; Civil rights & citizenship

Series: Edinburgh Studies on Diasporas and Transnationalism

By examining the everyday geographies of ethnic identity, place-making and cultural landscape transformations, as well as tracing the root of the Chinese community's origin through cartographic and archival records, this book depicts multi-cultural landscape formation in Kolkata (Calcutta). The authors capture how Kolkata's vibrant Chinese community has uniquely shaped the 'twin Chinatowns' amidst the city's diverse urban tapestry and gradually modified the adjacent cultural landscape towards a 'little China'. As these neighbourhoods encounter modern challenges of gentrification and global connectivity, the book explores the ways in which the community, particularly its youth, navigates the complexities of maintaining a transnational identity while being deeply rooted in the local cultural milieu. From the continuous ebb and flow of migration to the fostering of hybrid identities, this analysis examines how these transformations impact community cohesion and cultural heritage.

Featuring poignant individual case studies from Indian-Chinese respondents, the book examines issues such as identity, preservation efforts and the effects of socio-economic changes. Research techniques like adopting visual ethnographic 'streetscape' and cognitive 'emotional' cartography depict the everyday geography of the 'twin Chinatowns', illustrating how these communities claim their spaces and build connections on a global scale. Kunaljeet Roy and Sukla Basu reconnect with the essence of Kolkata's Chinese community and showcase how they navigate the challenges of a globalised world while holding onto the threads of heritage that define them as a 'Chinese Calcuttawallah'.

By: Kunaljeet Roy (Assistant Professor in School of Social Sciences and Languages Birla Institute of Technology and Science), Sukla Basu (Associate Professor of Geography, West Bengal State University, India)
Imprint: Edinburgh University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781399532495
ISBN 10: 1399532499
Series: Edinburgh Studies on Diasporas and Transnationalism
Pages: 280
Publication Date: 30 November 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Kunaljeet Roy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani, Hyderabad Campus, Telangana, India. He received the doctoral degree in Geography (2022), awarded by West Bengal State University, West Bengal, India. His research areas focus on urban geography, Migration and Diaspora Studies, emotional cartography, and urban history. Sukla Basu is serving as Professor at the Department of Rural Studies at West Bengal State University, Barasat, Kolkata. She was the former Associate Professor in Geography at West Bengal State University, Barasat, Kolkata. She was awarded the title of ‘Siksha Ratna’ in 2021 by the Government of West Bengal.

Reviews for Chinese Calcuttawallah: Articulating a Diaspora Ethnic Identity in India

Based on ethnographic observations, Roy and Basu portray vividly the picture of the rarely studied Chinese communities in Calcutta/Kolkata and their changes overtime: migration and settlement, economic activities and occupational profiles, community organizations and ethnic identity, and the impacts of geopolitics, making it a good reading for research and education purposes. -- Wei Li, Arizona State University The work carried out by Kunaljeet Roy and Sudra Basu, by associating the different spaces in the construction of the identity of the Chinese community from India, invites us to a better understanding of this overseas Chinese population in the context of contemporary India. The resolutely geographical approach is part of a humanities and social sciences approach that helps to qualify what are often overly generalised statements about overseas Chinese communities. -- Catherine Guéguen, Espace, Nature et Culture, Paris-Sorbonne University