Epistemic Diasporas: Indian Knowledge Systems, Crisis Governance, and the Transformation of Indian Diaspora Engagement in Global Knowledge Politics

The Indian diaspora has long been studied from the perspectives of political lobbying, identity building, skilled migration, and remittances. However, this prevalent framework masks a developing shift in the relationship between diasporas and states: the emergence of diaspora actors as knowledge brokers in international crisis management. The article makes the case that the Indian diaspora is becoming a more important epistemic infrastructure that facilitates the translation, institutionalization, and negotiation of Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), such as Ayurveda, Yoga, and dharmic ethical frameworks, in international scientific and policy spheres. There has been a lot of research on brain drain, brain circulation, and diaspora engagement policies, but not much systematic study has been done on the relationship between diaspora knowledge networks and Indian state knowledge diplomacy and more general decolonial epistemic politics. This study proposes the notion of "Epistemic Diaspora Governance" by drawing on the global institutionalization of Ayurveda and Yoga, the diaspora crisis infrastructures of Sikhs and Hindus, and qualitative multi-sited examination of diaspora scientific partnerships during COVID-19. It illustrates how diaspora involvement has evolved from economic exploitation to epistemic mediation, establishing diaspora players as go-betweens for the knowledge of Indian civilization and international governance systems. The results indicate that the politics of knowledge production in the twenty-first century are being reshaped in large part by Indian diaspora networks.