Article Migration of the Oppressed and Adi Dravida Identity Construction Through Print J. Balasubramaniam 1 Abstract This article discusses the construction of Adi-Dravida identity through print by the Indian migrant dalits in Colombo during the early twentieth century. The Adi-Dravidas started a monthly journal ‘Adi- Dravidan’ in 1919 to propagate the new identity of Adi-Dravida and consolidate the people for social emancipation. The article analyzes the politics of identity construction of the dalits through print media in the colonial period. Keywords Adi-Dravida, identity politics, diaspora, print, dalits Crossing the Border and Diaspora Formation of Dalits The Tamils started their mass migration in the early period of British rule in India. The British govern- ment recruited Tamils for various difficult jobs for their colonies. The early settlement patterns of the Tamils to the sugar cane plantations of Mauritius, Reunion (Indian Ocean), Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago (Caribbean), Guyana and Suriname (South America), plantations in Natal and Durban (South Africa), Rubber estates and the Railways in the Federated Malay States - FMS - (Malaysia), Coffee and Tea estates in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and to coal mines of New Caledonia of Australia in the Pacific Ocean can be traced in various documents. After the abolition of slavery, the Black slaves were replaced by the Tamil indentured labourers in most of the British colonies. Among the Tamils, the dalits (ex-untouchables) were in large numbers who migrated to these countries as labourers. The term diaspora is used here because the dalits migrated and were found scat- tered in various British colonies like South Africa, Burma, Fiji island, Mauritius and Malaysia. However, the migration of dalits to Sri Lanka will be discussed in detail. The British gained control over the island in 1815 and transformed its economy from subsistence agriculture to plantation economy. In 1820s, growing of coffee began and the first crop was produced in 1823 (Tinker, 1974, p. 28). These new planta- tions required large number of cheap labourers. The British estate owners found that the overpopulated districts in Tamil Nadu would supply enough labourers to them. Moreover, they believed that Tamils 1 Department of Journalism and Science Communication, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. Corresponding author: J. Balasubramaniam, Department of Journalism and Science Communication, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. E-mail: Balumids@gmail.com Contemporary Voice of Dalit 8(1) 41–46 © 2016 SAGE Publications India Private Limited SAGE Publications sagepub.in/home.nav DOI: 10.1177/2455328X16628769 http://vod.sagepub.com