Desis in Europa

People marked as 'South Asians' in Switzerland

Bollywood discovered Switzerland as an exotic place for its movies in the 1990s. At least since then well-off 'Indian' tourists travel there on their trip to Europe. But the picturesque country attracts not only tourists, but also migrants from 'South Asia'. In fact, it has one of the highest proportions of 'Indians' and 'Pakistanis' per head of population in the 'European' comparison, and the absolute number of 'Tamils' is even higher. The former figures might be due to the restrictive naturalisation rules, which make it very difficult to obtain the Swiss citizenship, the latter are the signs of the major 'Tamil' residence of asylum in 'Europe' .

Like in Germany and Austria the first 'South Asians' to come to Switzerland were students and freedom fighters. Günther and Rehmer (1999, 54-55) refer to a Pro India Committee and a magazine “Pro India” which existed in Zürich in 1912. This early presence of 'Indians' in Switzerland might explain that among the 'Indians' living in the country some are older than 65 years. Most of the 'South Asians' migrants are, however, in the working age of 20 to 39 years, and increasingly there are small children below 14 years. The single largest communities are 'Sri Lankans', who are predominantly 'Tamil' Hindus .

McDowell (1996, 227) divides the 'Tamils' into two groups. The first smaller half is the immigrant population which arrived at the beginning of the civil war in Sri Lanka between 1983 and 1989. They successfully integrated in the economy, are no longer dependent on state transfers and are permanently settling in Switzerland. The second larger half is the asylum seeker population, which arrived after 1989 and is unable to integrate in the economy. They do not have a permanent permit of residence and live in the danger of deportation. The racialised and precarised population is thus carefully trying to keep its good reputation and distances itself from the asylum seekers.

According to McDowell (1996, 270-273) there are several reasons, which have made Switzerland a major 'Tamil' place of asylum. First of all, the 'Tamils' have a long history of migration. Furthermore, although before 1983 there was no 'Tamil' community in Switzerland, there were 'Tamil' students in 'Europe', who assisted the new migrants. Chain migration started with the eldest sons, whose travelling expenses were raised by the family. Once in employment they then accumulated Swiss Francs, which were enormous in comparison to incomes in Sri Lanka and could be used for funding the family. Starting with the first migrants transnational networks developed, which relatives and friends later on could use. They were complemented by the offers of both Sri Lankan based and European based agents to organise the passage. The Swiss policy, offering work permits and social assistance, further encouraged the migration to Switzerland.

Today, however, Switzerland tries to reduce the numbers of 'Tamils' in the country by introducing a deportation programme (Flück 2001).

Bibliography

• Baumann, Martin (1998), “Sustaining ‘Little Indias’. Hindu diasporas in Europe”, in: Gerrie ter Haar (ed.), Strangers and Sojourners. Religious communities in the diaspora, Peeters, 95-132.
  Brief reference to Hindu presence in Switzerland.
• Baumann, Christoph-Peter (2003), "Tamilische Hindus und Tempel in der Schweiz: Überblick und exemplarische Vertiefung anhand der Geschichte des Vinayakar-Tempels in Basel", in: Martin Baumann, Brigitte Luchesi and Annette Wilke (eds.), Tempel und Tamilen in zweiter Heimat - Hindus aus Sri Lanka im deutschsprachigen und skandinavischen Raum, Würzburg: Ergon Verlag,275-294.
• Bloch-Chakkalakal, Philomina (2024), Unsichtbar unverzichtbar. Familien- und Berufsleben von "Nurses" aus Kerala in der Schweiz aus einer postmigrantischen Perspektive, Zürich: Seismo.
• Caritas (Switzerland) (1984), Searching for a Future: Tamil Refugees from Sri Lanka – analysis and proposals, London.
• Chatterjee, Neela (2006), Die bengalische Community in Bern: Migration und die Bedeutung von Identität, Magisterarbeit, Universität Bern.
• Flück, Oskar (2001), “Schweizer Rückkehrhilfe-Programm”, in: Südasien 21. Jg., Nr. 1, 62-63.
  Description of a Swiss programme to repatriate Sri Lankans.
• Goel, Urmila (2011), Über das Sprechen über die Religion der Anderen", in: Allenbach et al. (Hg.), Jugend, Migration und Religion - Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven, Baden-Baden: Nomos, 289-318
• Gschwend, Simone (2007), Aushandeln transnationaler und lokaler Beziehungen - Eine Fallstudie zu sozialen Netzwerken von Migranten und Migrantinnen aus Kerala, Indien, Lizentiatsarbeit der Philosophischen Fakultät der Universität Zürich, November 2007.
• Günther, Lothar and Hans-Joachim Rehmer (1999), Inder, Indien und Berlin, Berlin.
  Historical account of early Indian presence in Berlin. Some references to Indians, who came from Switzerland to Berlin.
• Herzig, Pascale (2011), "Religion in der Diaspora - Perspektiven von südasiatischen Kindern und Jugendlichen in der Schweiz", in: Allenbach et al. (Hg.), Jugend, Migration und Religion - Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven, Baden-Baden: Nomos, 249-269.
• Jain, Rohit (2013), "Migrationsforschung als transnationale, genealogische Ethnographie - Subjektivierungsprozesse von "InderInnen der zweiten Generation"", in: Paul Mecheril et al (Hrsg.), Migrationsforschung als Kritik? Spielräume kritischer Migrationsforschung, Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 175-192.
• Jain, Rohit (2011), "Negotiating Assimilation, Exoticism and Global Indian Modernity: Transnational Subject-Making of Second Generation Indians in Switzerland", in: Asiatische Studien/Études Asiatiques, LXV(4), 1001-1027.
• Jain, Rohit (2018), Kosmopolitische Pioniere. "Inder_innen der zweiten Generation" aus der Schweiz zwischen Assimilation, Exotik und globaler Moderne, Bielefeld: transcript.
• Lüthi, Damaris (2003), "Heimatliche Konventionen im Exil bewahren: Hinduistische und christliche Religiösität tamilischer Flüchtlinge in Bern", in: Martin Baumann, Brigitte Luchesi and Annette Wilke (eds.), Tempel und Tamilen in zweiter Heimat - Hindus aus Sri Lanka im deutschsprachigen und skandinavischen Raum, Würzburg: Ergon Verlag,295-322.
  Lüthi, Damaris (2008), "Perpetuating Religious and Social Concepts in the Extended Motherland: Tamil Christians in Berne (Switzerland)", in: Knut A. Jacobsen and Selva J. Raj (eds., 2008), South Asian Christian Diaspora: Invisible Diaspora in Europe and North America, Farnham: Ashgate, 97-116.
• Markus, Vera (2005), In der Heimat ihrer Kinder, Zürich: Offizin.
• McDowell, Christopher (1992), “Tamils in Switzerland: The Possibility of Return”, in: Tamil Information, November, No. 16.
• McDowell, Christopher (1996), A Tamil asylum diaspora: Sri Lankan migration, settlement and politics in Switzerland, Oxford: Berghahn Books.
  Very good in depth analysis of Tamil presence in Switzerland.
• Westfälische Rundschau (2000), “Absturz in der Schweiz: Acht Tote”, 27.09.
  Short newspaper note on the death of Indian tourists in Switzerland.
• Schneider, Alexander (2002), Bollywood. Das indische Kino und die Schweiz, Zürich: Museum für Gestaltung.
• Vögeli, Johanna (2003), "'Stärker als ihr denk': Tamilische Frauen in der Schweiz", in: Martin Baumann, Brigitte Luchesi and Annette Wilke (eds.), Tempel und Tamilen in zweiter Heimat - Hindus aus Sri Lanka im deutschsprachigen und skandinavischen Raum, Würzburg: Ergon Verlag,323-344.
• Wälchli, Ursina (2009), "Ein Tempel ist wie eine Waschmaschine" - Die religiöse Organisation der indischen Hindus in der Schweiz, Master-Arbeit, Universität Bern.

For statistical material click here (pdf-file).