Socio-Linguistic And Socio-Cultural Aspects Of Punjabi Indian Migrants Living In Germany

Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 2014 in the subject Sociology - Politics, Majorities, Minorities, grade: A, Jawaharlal Nehru University , language: English, abstract: The aim of this research is to get a complete picture of the sociolinguistic and sociocultural aspects of Punjabi Indian migrants settled in Germany. Migration brings with it an increased cultural diversity. The question for this thesis is how Punjabi identity is shaped and maintained in Diaspora, what mechanisms allow the Punjabi-speaking migrants to live and work within the new cultural milieu of Germany. The objective is to see, what happens to individuals, who are born and brought up in one cultural context, when they live in a new cultural context. To what extent are cultural identity and characteristics important for the migrants, and what is being done for language and culture maintenance? The basis for this research is intercultural communication and intercultural understanding between the Indians and the Germans. Primary source research for the thesis consisted of surveys and interviews with 240 Punjabi-speaking migrants, mostly Sikhs, of different age, social class and occupation living primarily in 7 different cities of Germany namely Wuppertal, Essen, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Berlin, Frankfurt and Nuremberg.