South Asians are on the move, and many of them have been for a long time. Today, many observers see migration as one of the most acute and intractable problems facing the societies and states of South Asia ¨C they point to the violence and coercion behind the creation of a footloose humanity, and to the ethical dilemmas of hospitality, exclusion, discrimination and boundary-making that migration presents to all of us. Migration studies have long moved beyond macro "push and pull" factors to consider transnationalism, diasporas, identity issues, theories of home, locality, and cosmopolitanism, the political economy of remittance economies, the social effects of single headed families, and much more. Are these themes adequately reflected in mainstream understandings of migration? To what extent do social scientists working on migration in the fields of demography, history, anthropology, economics, cultural studies or political science transmit their insights to colleagues in adjoining disciplines, to grassroots activists and to policy makers?

The theme of Migration that the fellowship program has chosen for 2003/4 offers an opportunity to consider these questions. We invite applications that deal with migration in the widest sense. Some themes of particular relevance are:

• The relationship between development/environmental change and the displacement of populations. Resource depletion, the construction of dams, industrial and urban development, and the effects of flooding, drought and famine -- all have led people to move. And such migration has also created developmental and environmental effects of its own.
• Many South Asians are involved in labour migration, and remittances are now the largest foreign exchange earner for most countries of the region. Whether this migration is seasonal or permanent, involves industrial or agricultural employment, and is short-distance or global, it links family networks, local communities and far-flung labour markets in ways that are continually changing.
• The formation of states in South Asia has been attended by partitions and wars. Border making and territoriality have led to many different forms of migration, from colonial personnel leaving the subcontinent and millions of South Asians seeking political refuge and physical safety across new borders, to the unauthorised smuggling of (labour) migrants and human trafficking. And state formation beyond South Asia has forced Afghans, Tibetans and Rohingyas to seek safety here. Certain groups were affected in particular ways by the formation of states, e.g. itinerant and pastoral groups who found their lifestyles cramped by increasingly policed borders.
• The meaning of migration differs for various categories of migrants. It can be highly gendered: marriage requires many more women than men to move to their in-laws¡¯ villages or towns, the experiences of male and female refugees can diverge, and trafficked males may have different fates from their female counterparts. Migration can also involve specific age groups, e.g. children and adolescents who leave home for education in a far-off or foreign city.
• When South Asians migrate, what and who makes them decide to do so? And how do they cope in their new environments? One way of exploring these issues is to study specific individual and household strategies and re-imaginings, and how these have evolved over time.

Note: This statement indicates some approaches to the study of migration in South Asia. It serves as a pointer to various perspectives on migration but does not claim to be exhaustive. We welcome proposals raising other research questions, methodological approaches, or interdisciplinary styles dealing with migration in South Asia.