communities.111 Not only did the colonial governments not have any
interest in integrating these migrant communities into their new societies, division among the different communities in fact made colonial
rule easier. These divisions continued post-independence such that some
communities continue to be perceived as ‘immigrants’ in the new states –
often across multiple generations. Many of the descendants of these
historical migrants have struggled to access nationality in the countries
they now consider their home.112
In Chapter 2, Ramnath explores the long-lasting legacies of colonialera migration with the example of historical Indian Tamil migrants in Sri
Lanka. Her detailed and insightful exploration of legal history illustrates
‘how colonial-era migrants were stranded within new nation-state
borders during decolonization, a process during which former imperial
citizens were manufactured into non-national “foreigners”’.113 Of course,
as she acknowledges, the ‘manufacture’ of putative citizens into foreigners continues today.114 Indeed, in Chapter 12, De Chickera and
Mohammed further show how intergenerational statelessness and social
exclusion of the Hill Country Tamil communities in Sri Lanka is deeply
entrenched, resulting in marginalization and socio-economic disadvantages that are not easily fixed solely by the conferral of nationality.
Similarly, in Chapter 4, Ismatov recounts how the breakup of the
Soviet Union transformed many previous internal migrants, including
those from mass historical population movements into Central Asia
during the Stalin era and beyond, into international migrants with
contested nationality claims.115
Finally, many of the independent states of Asia adapted colonial-era
classifications of populations and administrative processes for the purposes of their own emergent citizenship regimes. The impact of these
practices was particularly felt in how the post-colonial states managed the
111
Leo Suryadinata (ed) Ethnic Relations and Nation-Building: The Case of the Ethnic
Chinese (ISEAS Publications 2004).
112
See Jamie Liew, ‘Homegrown Statelessness in Malaysia and the Promise of the Principle
of Genuine and Effective Links’ (2019) 1(1) Statelessness & Citizenship Review 95; and
Nyi Nyi Kyaw, ‘Adulteration of Pure Native Blood by Aliens? Mixed Race Kapya in
Colonial and Post-Colonial Myanmar’ (2019) 25(3) Social Identities 345.
113
Ramnath in Chapter 2.
114
Ramnath cites Foster and Roberts, ‘Manufacturing Foreigners: The Law and Politics of
Transforming Citizens into Migrants’ in Catherine Dauvergne (ed), Research Handbook
on the Law and Politics of Migration (Edward Elgar 2021) 217.
115
W. Rogers Brubaker, ‘Citizenship Struggles in Soviet Successor States’ (1992) 26(2)
International Migration Review 269.
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009399555.003 Published online by Cambridge University Press