'Life is only abroad, not here' the culture of emigration among Anglo-Indians in Madras

The permanent emigration to the West of perhaps half the Anglo‐Indian population since Independence has had profound consequences for those left behind in India. This article examines the situation of Anglo‐Indians in Madras city and finds that a large segment of the community (the ‘artisan class') has evolved a lifestyle and a mode of self‐definition which centres to an inordinate degree on going abroad, amounting to a culture of emigration. This article argues that to complement the focus on the political economy of migration, attention must also be paid to the local cultural consequences of large‐scale population flows.