Social Affiliations In M. G. Vassanji's No New Land

Abstract

Living under another sky is not always smooth for human migrators. Initially, the new land may seem promising and bustling with activities, but as time passes unexpected hardships arise. Despite being good-natured and hardworking, migrants often feel like intruders and experience loneliness and longing for their native land. To escape these afflictions, they seek affiliations with groups of like-minded persons to protect themselves from the challenges of living in an alien land. This paper explores how social togetherness proves to be an effective remedy for healing the traumatic experiences encountered by immigrants in a foreign country. Due to British colonial rule over Asian and African continents, Indian workers were sent in large numbers from India to Africa throughout the nineteenth century. These labourers were recruited to construct the railroads that linked the three British colonies in East Africa—Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. While the immigration of Indian labourers is viewed as a kind of colonialism, their removal during the years after the independence can be seen as a part of decolonization. Though they were accused of failing to support the Africans who were then involved in armed resistance against the British colonialists, the Indians were forced to flee Africa. This paper attempts to study the experiences of these deported Indians as they are described in M.G. Vassanji. The Canadian author M.G. Vassanji's family was likewise expelled from Dar es salaam, Tanzania. He also discusses the Indian Shamsi’s scrupulous adherence to the many social and cultural norms and how they encountered in their new country, Canada. This study looks at the migrant population's experiences and the affiliation topic. This study will try to argue how steadfastly South Asian Canadians adhere to their ethnic ideals. The article will explain the social affiliation before demonstrating how the author approaches affiliation as a necessary component of the community's ethnic record.