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The First International Conference on Tamil Diaspora Mauritius

Mauritius ( From 23rd to 25th of July 2014)

Photo (from left to right): Minister of Culture Mukhesswur Choonee; Leader of the opposition Paul Bérenger; ARmoogum Parsuramen, Chairman of the organising committtee of the conference; Navin Ramgoolam, Prime minister; Dr John Samuel, Founder-Director of the Institute of Asian Studies (Chennai), and the minister of Education Vasant Bunwaree.

Bring together the Tamil diaspora and study how they preserved their rich culture while integrating in other countries. This is one of the main objectives of the first International Conference on Tamil Diaspora ever organised. And which Mauritius has the privilege of hosting. The launching ceremony was this morning, at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute, in Moka.

Starting today and until this Friday, June 25, speakers from different horizons and backgrounds will be presenting papers on various subjects. All have been compiled in a souvenir handbook that were offered to some of the guests today.

One of the main guests is Dr John Samuel, Founder Director of the Institute of Asian Studies in Chennai, India. Not all of them, stresses Armoogum Parsuramen, chairman of the organising committee, are of Tamil origin – as with Marek Ahnee and Emmanuel Richon – but all share a profound interest in the culture.

The First International Conference on Tamil Diaspora organized in Mauritius jointly by the Institute of Asian Studies with the Ministry of Arts and Culture, Govt. of Mauritius; the International Association for Tamil Diaspora ( INTAD) and the Mahatma Gandhi Institute, Mauritius was a resounding success. It is one of the most important epoch- making event in the annals of the Tamil Community living in around 55 countries.

Around 300 foreign delegates representing 25 countries gathered together in the beautiful country of Mauritius under the joint leadership of Dr.G.John Samuel, Founder-Director, Institute of Asian Studies, Chennai and Prof. Armoogum Parsuramen, former Minister of Education, Mauritius and the Director, UNESCO.

The Prime Minister of Mauritius Dr. Ramgoolam delivering the inaugural address
Dr. John Samuel addressing the delegates
The Prime Minister releasing the Conference Souvenir on Tamil Diaspora
The Prime Minister showing this volume to the delegates
Prof. Parsuramen presenting this book to the Former Prime Minister and the leader of the Opposition party
The Prime Minister look with happiness the cover design of the book
The Prime Minister inaugurates the exhibition of Tamil-palm Manuscripts organized by the Institute of Asian Studies
The Prime Minister looks at the heritage of Tamil Palm-leaf Manuscripts with his Ministers and officials
Our delegates give a demonstration regarding the digitizing of palm-leaf manuscripts
A part of the participants and paper presenters

Report - First International Conference on Tamil Diaspora

The Tamil people have a long history of emigrating to and settling down in foreign lands as labourers, craftsmen and traders. Today there are about 25 million Tamils scattered in 55 countries across the world. Many of them have lived in those foreign countries since a few generations, while the others have gone to these countries in the past about half a century in search of jobs and a better livelihood.

The First International Conference on Tamil Diaspora, organized with the purpose of bringing together the Diaspora Tamils and finding the ways and means to teach and nurture Tamil language and culture among them was held in Mauritius from 23rd to 25th July 2014.

The conference was a thumbing success, with the participation of 300 delegates from 25 countries. The entourage from Tamil Nadu was 65 strong.

The conference, which was held in the vast campus of the Mahatma Gandhi Institute in Port Louis, was jointly organized by the Ministry of Arts and Culture, Mauritius, Institute of Asian Studies, Chennai and International Tamil Diaspora Association, Mauritius, in collaboration with the Mahatma Gandhi Institute, Mauritius.

Dr. Navin Ramgoolam, the Honb’le Prime Minister of Mauritius, inaugurated the conference. Dr. Armoogum Parsuramen, former Education Minister of Mauritius and former Director of UNESCO, delivered the inaugural address. Dr. John Samuel, Director of the Institute of Asian Studies delivered a speech on the theme of the conference. Dr. Paul Bérenger, former Prime Minister of Mauritius, who is also the present Leader of Opposition, gave a speech welcoming the delegates. All Ministers of Mauritius were present in the function.

Delegates from over 25 countries presented more than 75 research articles on the Tamil Diaspora in Tamil, English and French. Besides, 10 special invitee lectures were delivered by renowned academicians.

Dr. James Gregory, a lexicographer from England, delivered the valedictory speech.

The participating academicians and delegates practically represented the Tamil Diaspora communities living in their respective countries.

The Prime Minister of Mauritius unveiled the exhibition on digitization of Tamil palm-leaf manuscripts by the Institute of Asian Studies and also the exhibition of historical documents pertaining to the emigrant Tamils arranged with the help of the UNESCO.

The academic sessions brought out research papers dealing with various aspects of the socio-political settings in which the migrant Tamils live in the countries of their domicile. Several cultural and fine arts programmes also took place as part of the conference.

The Prime Minister released in a colourful function the souvenir of the conference, grandly brought out by the Institute of Asian Studies. The souvenir was decorated by greeting messages received from the leaders of a number of countries including Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the British Queen, and internationally acclaimed academicians.

30 resolutions, proposing the ways that could be adopted for the study of Tamil language and upkeep of Tamil culture among the Tamil Diaspora in different countries were adopted at the end of parleys attended by the Tamil researchers and delegates from the participant countries. A number of resolutions that spoke about the requirement of the role of the government of Tamil Nadu in implementing them formed part of these, and these have been submitted to the Tamil Nadu government for further action.

Spurred by the huge success of the first conference in Mauritius, a number of countries have expressed their willingness to host similar conferences for the Tamil Diaspora in the following years. The second, third and fourth conferences have been planned to be held in South Africa, Réunion Island and Australia, where several lakh Tamils live.

 
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