套嵌身份和分层的跨国网络:在华印度商人研究

Nested Identity and Stratified Transnational Network:A Research on Indian Businessmen in China

在来华的外国人群体中,印度人是一个较大的群体。印度商人在华南、上海、义乌和绍兴等地形成了引人注目的在华印度人社区。但关于在华印度商人的研究有限,且倾向于将其看作一个同一的、封闭的群体。在混合研究法所获得资料的基础上,本文发现,在华印度商人的跨国网络是全球性的,超越了印、中两个来源国和东道国的范畴。他们的跨国网络呈现群体内聚集、群体外分离的特点,表现出个人主义和高度的“群体内集体主义”共存的特征。因此,在华印度商人社区并不同一、封闭,这和印度商人的“套嵌身份”紧密相关。“套嵌身份”的层级之分使得在华印度商人“分群”的跨国网络进一步“分层”,进而影响了在华印度商人社区的团结性。

Among foreigners residing in China,Indians are a relatively large group.Indian businessmen have formed notable Indian communities in places like Shanghai,Yiwu and Shaoxing in southern China.However,research on Indian businessmen in China is limited and tends to treat them as a homogeneous and closed group.Based on the data obtained through the mixed research method,this paper finds that the transnational network of Indian businessmen in China is global,far beyond the scope of the two countries as the origin country and host country.Their transnational network shows the characteristics of“in-group aggregation and out-group separation”,featuring the coexistence of individualism and a high degree of“in-group collectivism”.Therefore,the Indian businessmen community in China is not homogenous and closed,which is closely related to the“nested identity”of Indian businessmen.The hierarchical division within the“nested identity”leads to further stratification of the“grouped”transnational network of Indian businessmen in China,which in turn affects the unity of the Indian businessmen community in China.