Delon Madavan

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Delon Madavan

Postdoctoral fellow
Field(s): Geography
Institutional affiliation(s): Université de Québec à Montréal

Professional contact information
delonmadavan[at]gmail.com

Presentation

I obtained my PhD in geography in 2013 and my qualifications were officially recognized by the 23 section of the CNU (Conseil National des Universités—National Universities Council) in 2014. For the past ten years or so, I have been conducting research on the articulation between identity and spatial inscription in order to analyze the forms according to which Tamil populations integrate themselves in several cities (Jaffna, Colombo, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Paris and recently Montreal).

My Master’s work, which was focused on the causes and consequences of inter-community conflict in Sri Lanka on the city of Jaffna and its inhabitants, brought to light my vocation for research.

After this first project, the comparison of the situation of the Tamils in Colombo, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore then struck me as interesting because it enabled me to study how they integrated themselves in three post-colonial countries with very different national political contexts. During the course of my PhD, I analyzed the way in which this diasporic minority manages to preserve the particular aspects of its ethnic identity, while still integrating into their new nation in the spatial frame of these cities. The dissertation enabled me to demonstrate the pertinence of adopting a comparative and multi-scalar perspective for grasping all the complexity of the various factors that impact identification and socio-spatial integration in a minority group. For ethnic minorities in diaspora, like the Tamils, the integration policies of the State where they settle, the spatial inscription of their identity, the urban practices, the official or informal links that are maintained with their country of origin, infra- and trans-national ethnic solidarities, and the international migrations of Tamils all contribute in different degrees to the construction of a community identity that can, depending on the historical or economic context and the socio-political environment, exist alongside with or challenge national identity.

Since I finished my PhD, I have begun working on new fieldwork areas. The ‘Département de la politique de la ville et de l’intégration de la Mairie de Paris (DPVI)’ asked me to write a report on the populations of South Asian extraction in Paris and the fact that they do not have recourse to aid and welfare programs. This new interest in more Western fieldwork is continuing this year thanks to the ‘Centre d’études et de recherche sur l’Inde, l’Asie du Sud et sa diaspora (CERIAS/UQÀM),’ which has welcomed me as a postdoctoral fellow to conduct a study on Tamils in francophone countries: ‘Migrations, Identités et Intégrations à Paris et à Montréal.’

Areas of research

Disciplinary fields

Social and cultural geography – Urban geography – Migratory geography

Research themes

Minorities, identities and socio-spatial integrations
Inter-ethnic relationships
Territorialization and citadinity
South Asian ethnoterritories
Migrations
Diaspora and transnational community

Fieldwork

Asia: Sri Lanka (Colombo, Jaffna), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) and Singapore
Europe: France (Île-de-France)
North America: Canada (Montreal)

Scholarly affiliations

Since 2015 | Associate member of the CEIAS (Centre d'Études de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud—Center for South Asian Studies) (UMR 8564 CNRS - EHESS), as a “Postdoctoral Scholar”

Since 2015 | Associate member of the Noria South Asia network

Since 2013 | Associate member of the Centre d’Études et de Recherche sur l’Inde, l’Asie du Sud et sa Diaspora (CERIAS - Université de Québec à Montréal), Canada, as a postdoctoral fellow (sincie 2014)

2007-2014 | Associate member of the Laboratoire Espaces, Nature et Cultures (ENEC), (UMR 8185 CNRS - Université de Paris-Sorbonne), as a PhD student.

Involvement in research programs

Since 2015 | Member of the “Cities and Regions in a Globalizing World” research group (coordinated by Loraine Kennedy)

Since 2014 | Member of the “les Tamouls en pays francophones : Migrations, Identités et Intégrations à Paris et à Montréal” team, (CERIAS – UQÀM) (coordinated by Mathieu Boisvert)

Since 2014 | Member of the “Mobilities” team (coordinated by Aurélie Varrel and David Picherit) and the “Hindus and Others in South Asia and Overseas” team (coordinated by Mathieu Claveyrolas and Pierre-Yves Trouillet)

Since 2014 | Member of the advisory group for the “Children of Refugees in Europe: Aspirations, Social and Economic Lives, Identity and Transnational linkages” project (coordinated by Milena Chimienti, Laurence Ossipow, Alice Bloch and Catherine Withol de Wenden). Three teams (CERI–Paris Sciences Po, Geneva HETS and the Manchester Sociology Department) are collaborating on this project.

2010-2013 | Member of the study group on “Mutations spatiales, modernités dans les pays en développement” of the “Développement, Territoire et Altérité” line of inquiry of the ENEC research team (coordinated by Olivier Sevin).

2011-2012 | Participation in the work of the “Mobilités, Migrations et Diasporas d’Asie du Sud” (MIDAS) seminar, jointly organized by the ‘Centre d’étude sur l’Inde et l’Asie du Sud’ and the ‘Centre d’études himalayennes,’ Paris (coordinated by Aurélie Varrel and Tristan Bruslé).

Group research responsibilities

Coordination of a research network

Since 2004 | With Éric Meyer (emeritus Professeur at INALCO) and Gaelle Dequirez (PhD in political sociology), coordination of the informal research group on Sri Lanka and its diasporas.

Editorial activities

Since 2015 | Production manager and host of the South Asia’s Hub program on the New-vo radio web-radio station

Since 2012 | Administration of a HSS web-based research blog – Editor (with Eric Meyer) of the Sri Lanka & Diasporas research blog

Since 2010 | Member of the editorial board of the online journal Carnets de géographes

Organization of scholarly events

02/2015 | One-day conference on “Hindus and Others in Sri Lanka and in the Diaspora,” co-organized by the CEIAS and the CERIAS (with Mathieu Claveyrolas and Pierre-Yves Trouillet), at the CEIAS in Paris.

01/2014 | Conference entitled “Le cinéma sri lankais : autonomie et engagement de la nouvelle génération” (themes covered: war and exile), co-organized by the BULAC, the INMALANKA NGO and the ‘Festival du Film d’Asie du Sud Transgressif,’ in the BULAC auditorium (with Éric Meyer).

02/2010 | Multidisciplinary international conference on “Les communautés tamoules et le conflit sri lankais,” organized by the ENEC, at the ‘Maison de la recherche de l’Université de Paris-Sorbonne’ (with Gaelle Dequirez).

12/2008 | Multidisciplinary workgroup on “Sri lanka et la diaspora sri lankaise,” organized by the ENEC, at ‘Université Paris 8’ (with Gaelle Dequirez).

Main publications

Books

2013 | [forthcoming in the ‘Géographie et Cultures’ series of L’Harmattan], Les minorités tamoules à Colombo, Kuala Lumpur et Singapour : minorités, intégrations socio-spatiales et citadinités, PhD dissertation in geography, Paris, Université Paris-IV Sorbonne, 482 p.

2013 | (with Goreau-Ponceaud A.), Dictionnaire insolite de Sri Lanka, Paris, Cosmopole, 159 p.

2011 | (with Dequirez G. and E. Meyer (eds.), Les communautés tamoules et le conflit sri lankais, Paris: L’Harmattan/‘Géographie et Cultures’ series. 214 p. (series published by the UMR ENEC 8185)

2007 | Jaffna et le conflit intercommunautaire à Sri Lanka, Paris, PRODIG, ‘Grafigéo’ series, 88 p. (published by the UMR 8586)

Book chapters

2014 | “La promotion d’un Little India au service de la patrimonialisation de l’identité indienne à Singapour,” in Goreau-Ponceaud A. (ed.), Patrimoine(s), politique(s) et ethnicité dans l’aire indianocéanique, Presses universitaires de Bordeaux, pp. 15-31

2013 | (with Dequirez G., and E. Meyer, 2013), “Sri Lankans in France,” in The Encyclopedia of the Sri Lankan Diaspora, Singapore, Editions Didier Millet, pp. 126-130

2011 | “Géographie des ‘espaces refuges’ des Tamouls jaffnais depuis le début de la guerre à Sri Lanka,” in Madavan D., Dequirez G. and E. Meyer (eds.), Les communautés tamoules et le conflit sri lankais, 2011, Paris: L’Harmattan/‘Géographie et Cultures’ series, pp. 15-44

Peer-reviewed journal articles

2015 | “Réfugiés tamouls sri lankais : guerre, migration et intégration,” as part of the special issue entitled “L’immigration sud-asiatique : Perspectives européennes” (eds. Goreaud-Ponceaud A. and E. Gallo), in Migrations Société

2015 | (with Meyer É.) “Sri Lanka : les séquelles de la guerre,” in Hérodote, No. 158 pp. 219-237

2014, “La Populations d’origine sud-asiatique à Paris et en Île-de-France : Distribution et visibilité,” in Hommes & Migrations, No. 1308-December 2014, pp. 33-43

2011, “La diaspora tamoule sri lankaise en Malaisie : Migrations plurielles et développement de deux identités distinctes,” in Hommes & Migrations No. 1291-May-June 2011, pp. 128-136

2011 | “Déségrégation socio-religieuses d’une ville dans l’immédiat après guerre : Jaffna, Sri Lanka,” in Carnets de géographes, No. 2, Varia section, May 2011, Research notebooks rubric

2011 | “Socio-Religious Desegregation in an Immediate Postwar Town Jaffna, Sri Lanka” in Carnets de géographes, No. 2, March 2011, Research notebooks rubric

Report

2014 | “Les communautés d’origine sud-asiatique à Paris et le non recours aux droits sociaux,” report drafted for the ‘Délégation de la politique de la ville et à l’intégration’ (DPVI) of Paris City Hall, 67 p.

Participation in conferences, seminars, …

Presentations with conference proceedings

03/2013 | “Patrimonialisation de l’identité indienne à Singapour,” presentation given during the workshop on “Îles, patrimoines et ethnicité dans l’aire indianocéanique” at the ‘IUT de Périgueux-Bordeaux IV’

10/2011 | “La diaspora tamoule sri lankaise en Malaisie : Migrations plurielles et développement de deux identités distinctes,” presentation given at the ‘Cité nationale de l’histoire de l’immigration’ as part of the conference entitled Diasporas sri lankaises : entre guerre et paix.

02/2010 | “Géographie « des espaces refuges » des Tamouls jaffnais depuis le début du conflit à Sri Lanka,” presentation given as part of the multi-disciplinary international conference entitled “Les communautés tamoules et le conflit sri lankais,” organized by the UMR ENEC, at the ‘Maison de la recherche de l’université de Paris-Sorbonne’

Presentations without conference proceedings

10/2015 | “Les facteurs explicatifs du non recours aux droits sociaux des populations d’origine sud-asiatique à Paris,” presentation given as part of the conference entitled “Bruxelles-sur-Seine : La fin des territoires à l’émergence des communautés plurielles,” organized under the aegis of the 'Commission communautaire française de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale' and the 'Commission belge francophone et germanophone pour l’UNESCO,' at the Wallonie-Bruxelles General Delegation in Paris

10/2015 | “Les hindous tamouls et la politique d’éradication des bidonvilles à Kuala Lumpur,” presentation given as part of the worshop entitled “Les religions des diasporas sud-asiatiques : transformations, étanchéités, cohabitations, syncrétismes,” organized under the aegis of the CERIAS, at the Université de Québec à Montréal

09/2015 | “Les politiques urbaines des États et les ethnoterritoires tamouls à Kuala Lumpur et Singapour,” presentation given as part of the panel entitled “Les ethnoterritoires urbains en Asie et dans le Pacifique” during the 5th ‘Asie et Pacifique’ Congress, at the INALCO

09/2015 | “Négocier sa place dans une ville refuge : l’exemple des déplacés de guerre tamouls à Colombo (Sri Lanka),” presentation given as part of the panel entitled “Migrations forcées” during the 5th ‘Asie et Pacifique’ Congress, at the INALCO

06/2015 | “Le regroupement familial, un moment clé des histoires migratoires,” discussion with Hakima Mounir organized by the journal Hommes & Migrations and the Hélène Berr Media Library in Paris

04/2015 | “Les Sud-asiatiques à Singapour,” presentation given as part of the workshop entitled “L’impact des diasporas dans l’économie du monde,”organized at the 'IUT d’Évry'

02/2015 | “The Weight of the Hindu Community and the Hierarchical Caste System in Jaffna Town until the End of Cease-Fire Period,” presentation given as part of the workshop entitled “Hindus and Others in Sri Lanka and in the Diaspora,” co-organzed by the CEIAS and the CERIAS, at the CEIAS in Paris

06/2014 | “Réfugiés tamouls sri lankais en France : guerre, migration et intégration,” presentation given as part of the conference entitled “Réfugiés, Ville, Santé mentale,” organized by the INALCO, at the INALCO auditorium

05/2014 | “State Urban Policies and Tamil Ethnoterritories in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore,” presentation given as part of the conference entitled “Tamil Societies and Visibility” organized by the FMSH and Cambridge University, at the FMSH

01/2014 | “Introduction” (with Éric Meyer) for the conference entitled “Le cinéma sri lankais : autonomie et engagement de la nouvelle génération,” co-organized by the BULAC, the FFAST and the INMALANKA NGO, at the BULAC auditorium

11/2013 | “Introduction” and moderator (with Marianne Godard) of the closing round-table discussion of the workshop entitled ‘Living and Writing the Sri Lankan Civil War’ co-organized by the LARCA (Paris Diderot), the ARIAS (Sorbonne Nouvelle/ENS/CNRS) and the SAGE (IEP de Strasbourg), at the Université Paris Diderot

11/2011 | “Socio-Religious Desegregation in an Immediate Postwar Town (Jaffna, Sri Lanka),” presentation given as part of the conference entitled ‘Sri Lanka in the World, the World in Sri Lanka,’ at the University of Zurich

03/2011 | “L’intégration socio spatiale des Tamouls dans la société «-multiraciale-» singapourienne,” presentation given as part of the ‘Mobilités, Migrations et Diasporas d’Asie du Sud (MIDAS)’ seminar, at the EHESS

05/2010 | “Geography of Jaffnese Tamils’ Refugee Spaces Since the Beginning of the War in Sri Lanka,” presentation given as part of the ‘Sri Lanka in Transition’ conference at the University of Utrecht

04/2009 | “The Puthukkudiyirupu Operation & the Current State of Sri Lankan Conflict,” presentation given as part of a seminar offered by the South Asian Studies Department at the National University of Singapore

07/2008 | “Tamil Minority in Colombo, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore,” presentation given as part of the fifth FASS-Sorbonne conference, at the National University of Singapore

Professional experience in post-secondary education

2010-2012 | A.T.E.R. at the Université Paris-Sorbonne (192 hours/year)

2007-2010 | Moniteur at the Université Paris-Sorbonne (215,5 hours/year)

Courses taught: geography of population (1^st year Bachelor’s level in French and English), historical geography (1^st year Bachlor’s level in French), migration geography (1^st year Bachelor’s level in English), urban geography (2^nd year Bachelor’s level in English) and scientific English (2^nd year Master’s level in English).

^{Last update: 30 November 2015}

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