ABSTRACT
A large and growing literature on the migration-development nexus suggests that migration may be read as both a cause and an effect of development (Sørensen & Van Hear, 2003; Xiang, 2004). In some studies underdevelopment is one important cause for migration (Sørensen & Van Hear, 2003; and see Gent, 2002 for a critique) whereas in others development is argued to be necessary for migration to be triggered (Sriskandarajah, 2005). The effects of migration on development may also be seen as either positive or negative. For instance, the loss of development potential that follows migration is highlighted in the growing brain drain literature (Bach, 2004; Stillwell, Zurn, Connell, & Awases, 2005). On the other hand, a range of state-led transnational endeavours have been instituted as the gains that migration offer have been made more apparent (Aneesh, 2000; Margheritis, 2007). However, contemporary discourses of migration and development often problematically assume a prefi gured nation or community and a commitment to a modernising developmentality with migrants mediating the relationship between the two.1 In this paper I use examples of narratives of loss and gain that surround emigration from India to highlight how the nation is itself being produced in narratives of migration and development.
