Religion, ethnicity and class resources as building blocks of a transnational migration culture

Abstract

Anglo-Indian migrants in Mozambique developed mechanisms of territoriality and transnational binding which played a fundamental role in establishing the intermediate ethnic trader minority status they acquired during the colonial period. Using a corpus of memories, this article seeks to determine to what extent the Hindu and muslim religions were effective variables in the consolidation of a transnational migration culture. In doing so, however, it argues that these processes can only be properly understood if class values and resources, specificities related to differential ethnicity, and new strategies for relating to other groups in colonial society are all taken into account at the same time.