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Diasporas

Diasporas

Jeffrey Lesser | Homi Bhabha | Peter Mandaville | Terrance Lyons | Claire Dwyer | Manuel Vasquez | Jaine Beswick | Doctor Nadje Al-Ali | Karim H Karim | Doctor Daniela Berghahn | Ian Cook | Tariq Modood | Toshio Watanbe | Paul Gilroy | Doctor Larissa Remennick | Gerd Baumann | Professor Martin Baumann | David Richardson | Professor Robin Cohen | Ulirke Meinhof | Sara Wills | Professor Flemming Christiansen | Junior Professor Doctor Kira Kosnick | Doctor Dibyesh Anand | Sanaz Raji | Anastasia Christou | Juan Flores | Madeleine Wong | Professor Russell King | Professor Pnina Werbner | Susheila Nasta | Doctor James Procter | Helen Gilbert | Victoria Bernal | Avtar Brah | Khachig Tololyan | Peggy Levitt | Marie Gillespie | Philip Crang | Mark Johnson | Nicholas Van Hear | Virinder Kalra | Graham Huggan | Steven Vertovec | Vijay Agnew | Doctor Simon Turner | Professor Kim Knott | Doctor Sean McLoughlin

(2010)

Additional Information

Book Details

Abstract

Featuring essays by world-renowned scholars, Diasporas charts the various ways in which global population movements and associated social, political and cultural issues have been seen through the lens of diaspora. Wide-ranging and interdisciplinary, this collection considers critical concepts shaping the field, such as migration, ethnicity, post-colonialism and cosmopolitanism. It also examines key intersecting agendas and themes, including political economy, security, race, gender, and material and electronic culture. Original case studies of contemporary as well as classical diasporas are featured, mapping new directions in research and testing the usefulness of diaspora for analyzing the complexity of transnational lives today. Diasporas is an essential text for anyone studying, working or interested in this increasingly vital subject.
'Simultaneously panoramic and precise, this volume offers authoritative, inclusive, yet blessedly focused articles on the terms, concepts, and perspectives that collectively define the field of diaspora studies.' Khachig Tölölyan, Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies 'As scholarly approaches to Diasporas develop a global profile and span a variety of disciplines, this book provides an incisive account of the state of the art.' Homi K. Bhabha, Harvard University 'Bringing together an impressive array of distinguished interdisciplinary scholars with wide-ranging perspectives on the cultural and historical significance of contemporary diasporas worldwide, this book provides an essential companion to understanding the complex evolution of concepts of migration and identity and their vital impact on shaping the direction of public and academic debate today.' Susheila Nasta, Open University
Kim Knott is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Leeds and director of Diasporas, Migration and Identities. She has worked on South Asian religious diasporas, particularly British Hindus, and on migration, ethnicity and identity. In conjunction with government and voluntary sector partners she has researched issues of religious and ethnic diversity and representation. In The Location of Religion: A Spatial Analysis (2005) and later articles, she has developed a spatial methodology for researching places, bodies and organisations in which controversies occur about matters of sacred concern, whether religious, secular or postsecular. Seán McLoughlin is senior lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Leeds. Trained in the study of religion, Islam and anthropology, he is an expert on various aspects of South Asian heritage Muslims in Britain and has worked on a number of public projects, as well as giving invited lectures across Europe and in the United States. Co-editor of European Muslims and the Secular State, most recently he was principal investigator on an AHRC Diasporas' network, From Diaspora to Multi-Locality: Writing British-Asian Cities (2006-9).

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
About the editors i
Acknowledgements viii
Map ix
Introduction 1
Diasporic connections; diasporas scholarship 1
Diasporas, migration and identities: a research programme 2
Migration and diasporas: global and regional statistics 5
Outlining the book 7
PART ONE: Concepts and theories 17
Figure 1 Diasporas wreath, Elmina Castle, Ghana 18
1 | Exile 19
General meaning of exile 19
Exile – historical coinage 20
Diaspora as a neologism 20
Diaspora as part of a soteriological scheme 21
Ensuing adoption of diaspora 22
Varied connotations of exile 22
Further reading 23
2 | Home and memory 24
Further reading 28
3 | Slavery and the black Atlantic 29
Further reading 33
4 | Migration 34
Migration and diaspora formation 34
Migration and the durability of diaspora 37
Further reading 38
5 | Transnationalism 39
A transnational optic 39
Changing assumptions and expectations 41
Further reading 44
6 | Nation, ethnicity and community 45
Further reading 49
7 | Multiculturalism and citizenship 50
The emergence of multiculturalist politics 50
Civic multiculturalism 52
Further reading 54
8 | Post-coloniality 55
Further reading 58
9 | Hybridity 59
Further reading 62
10 | Cosmopolitanism 63
Attitude or orientation 64
Practices or skills 64
Abilities or competences 66
Further reading 68
11 | Social identities and creolization 69
Diaspora 70
Creolization 71
Conclusion 72
Further reading 73
12 | Complex diasporas 74
The limits of the diaspora concept 74
Complex diasporas 75
The pluralization of the public sphere 76
Conclusion 77
Further reading 78
13 | Space and movement 79
Spatial theory and metaphor in diaspora studies 79
Geographical movement and settlement 80
Diasporic spatialities 81
Diaspora space: place, dwelling and living together 82
Further reading 83
PART TWO: Intersections 85
Figure 2 House Textile 1 86
14 | Diasporas and economies 87
Further reading 90
15 | Diasporas and politics 91
Further reading 96
16 | Diasporas, conflict and security 97
Migration and security 97
Long-distance nationalism 99
Transnationalism and peace-building 100
Further reading 101
17 | Diasporas and development 102
Why are development policy-makers interested in migration? 102
Why does development studies privilege migration over diaspora? 103
How might development studies benefit from taking diaspora studies more seriously? 104
Further reading 106
18 | Diasporas and cities 107
Global migration and the importance of cities 107
Globalizing cities and cultural diversity 108
Diasporas and contemporary British cities 109
Conclusion 110
Further reading 111
19 | Diasporas, race and difference 112
Race-ing diaspora 112
Empirical and metaphorical diasporas 114
Conclusion 116
Further reading 117
20 | Diasporas and gender 118
Women’s experiences 118
The emphasis on difference 119
Ethnicity, nation and citizenship 120
Limitations of the performative nexus 121
Further reading 122
21 | Diasporas and sexuality 123
Eroticism, alliances or procreation? 123
Sexuality and trans-state formations 123
The implicit bias in migration studies 125
The productivity of ‘queer’ 126
Further reading 127
22 | Diasporas and religion 128
Further reading 132
23 | Diasporas and language 134
Further reading 138
24 | Diasporas and material culture 139
Commodifying diaspora 140
The stuff of diasporic homemaking 141
Diasporic collections 143
Further reading 144
25 | Diasporas, literature and literary studies 145
Diaspora, trauma and literature 146
Diaspora as the generator of cultural ‘newness’ 147
Looking ahead 149
Further reading 150
26 | Diasporas and performance 151
Diaspora space 152
Bodies 153
Affect 155
Further reading 156
27 | Diasporas, film and cinema 157
Further reading 161
28 | Diasporas and media 162
Further reading 166
29 | Diasporas and cyberspace 167
Further reading 171
PART THREE: Empirical and metaphorical diasporas 173
Figure 3 Cross-diasporic contact zones at the BBC’s Bush House, 1940 174
30 | South/North relations in the Americas 175
Further reading 180
31 | Movements between ‘white’ Europe and America: Greek migration to the United States 181
The setting 181
Greeks in America: two waves, and some return 182
The evolving character of the diaspora 183
Preserving diasporic identity 184
Conclusion 185
Further reading 186
32 | The Russian-Jewish diaspora at the beginning of the twenty-first century 187
Further reading 192
33 | The Iranian diaspora in the West 193
Further reading 197
34 | How the Japanese diaspora in Brazil became the Brazilian diaspora in Japan 198
The big questions 198
The story 199
Further reading 203
35 | Migrations within China 204
Further reading 210
36 | Beyond Tibet 211
Where is ‘beyond Tibet’? 211
Refugee diaspora 212
Preservation of culture 213
Nationalism in exile 213
Interactions with others 214
Further reading 216
37 | Sacred journeys, diasporic lives: sociality and the religious imagination among Filipinos in the Middle East 217
Overseas Filipino workers and transnational relations of reproduction 217
Beyond ‘maids to order’: spiritual sojourns in sacred places 218
Further reading 222
38 | Muslim travellers: homing desire, the umma and British-Pakistanis 223
Diaspora consciousness, homing desires and religious identity 223
Travelling Islam and the idea of the umma 226
British-Pakistanis, diasporic predicaments and Islamic identities 227
Further reading 229
39 | Diasporic dialogue among the British in Australia 230
Unsettling British identities in Australia 230
Locations and negotiations 232
Memory, place and change 233
Further reading 235
40 | Diasporic creativity: refugee intellectuals, exiled poets and corporate cosmopolitanism at the BBC World Service 236
From Empire Service to diasporic Overseas Service 236
‘Talking to India’ 237
Caribbean voices 238
Soviet voices, literary lives 239
Conclusion 241
Further reading 241
41 | Colonial space-making and hybridizing history, or ‘Are the Indians of East Africa Africans or Indians?’ 243
Colonial space-making 245
East African Asians 245
Further reading 247
42 | Transnational musicians’ networks across Africa and Europe 249
North African and Malagasy diasporas 250
Justin Vali 251
Karim Dellali 252
Youssef El-Mejjad 254
Conclusion 255
Further reading 255
43 | Diasporic readers and the location of reception 256
Further reading 262
44 | Jews as rooted cosmopolitans: the end of diaspora? 263
Further reading 268
Conclusion: new directions 269
Concluding Diasporas 269
Leaving ‘diaspora’ for ‘diaspora space’ 271
About the contributors 274
Bibliography 278
Index 311