Migration Diaspora And Identity

Framed in relation to diaspora this collection engages with the subject of how cultural difference is lived and how complex and shifting identities shape and respond to spatial politics of belonging. Diaspora is understood in a variety of ways, which makes this an eclectic collection of papers. Authors use various theoretical frameworks to explore diverse groups of people with a variety of experiences in a wide range of settings. They are making sense of the experiences of women and men from a range of ethnic backgrounds, negotiating identities through family, work and education. The micro dynamics of the everyday offer an evocative 'bottom up' means of understanding the tensions implicit in living multiple belongings. The common thread for the collection comes from the glimpses these authors provide into the remaking of our globalized world. The aim is to shed light on racism, dislocation and alienation on the one hand, and on the other hand, to consider how the complex power relations within the everyday mediate a sense of resistance and hope. The papers are arranged around four themes; 1. Multiple Belongings, 2. Representing a Way of Being, 3. Sexualised Identifications and 4. Marriage and Family.

After the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, millions of Romanians emigrated in search of work and new experiences; they became engaged in an interrogation of what it meant to be Romanian in a united Europe and the globalized world. Their thoughts, feelings and hopes soon began to populate the virtual world of digital and mobile technologies. This book chronicles the online cultural and political expressions of the Romanian diaspora using websites based in Europe and North America. Through online exchanges, Romanians perform new types of citizenship, articulated from the margins of the political field. The politicization of their diasporic condition is manifested through written and public protests against discriminatory work legislation, mobilization, lobbying, cultural promotion and setting up associations and political parties that are proof of the gradual institutionalization of informal communications. Online discourse analysis, supplemented by interviews with migrants, poets and politicians involved in the process of defining new diasporic identities, provide the basis of this book, which defines the new cultural and political practices of the Romanian diaspora.

This book examines how African, Asian, Middle Eastern and Latin American diasporas use media to communicate among themselves and to integrate into European countries. Whereas migrant communities continue employing print and broadcasting technologies, the rapidly growing applications of Internet platforms like social media have substantially enriched their interactions. These communication practices provide valuable insights into how diasporas define themselves. The anthology investigates varied uses of media by Ecuadorian, Congolese, Moroccan, Nepalese, Portugal, Somali, Syrian and Turkish communities residing in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK. These studies are based on research methodologies including big data analysis, content analysis, focus groups, interviews, surveys and visual framing, and they make a strong contribution to the emerging theory of diasporic media.

Diasporic Ruptures: Globality, Migrancy, and Expressions of Identity lies at the intersections of various processes emerging from globalization: border-crossings, transnationalism, identity formations. Carefully selected and placed in two volumes, the essays here represent works of both well-seasoned scholars as well as emerging writers, academics and intellectuals. The volumes critically examine various manifestations of the trend now commonly known as globalization—manifestations that many diasporic communities, immigrants, and people from all walks of life experience. They also illuminate recent political, social, economic and technological developments that are taking place in a rapidly changing world. Volume One offers sophisticated insights into the nature of contemporary formations of diasporic life, internationalism, and hybrid identities. The volume asks bold questions around what it means to live in constantly shifting boundaries of nationality, identity, and citizenship. The type of methodological, discursive and experiential awareness promoted by this work helps us understand how millions of people face the challenge of living in a globalizing world; it also fosters a consciousness of how globalization itself functions differently in different environments. Volume Two (see Volume 7 in Transgressions: Cultural Studies and Education) addresses additional and more nuanced questions around culture, race, sexuality, migration, displacement and resistance. It also explores certain epistemological and methodological fallacies regarding conventional articulations of nation-state, nationalism, and the local/global nexus. The volume seeks to answer questions such as: What are the meanings and connotations of ‘displacement’ in a rapidly globalizing world? What are some dilemmas and challenges around notions of cultural hybridity, linguistic diversity, and a sense of belonging? What is the meaning of home in diaspora and the meaning of diaspora at home? Together, the volumes raise many topics that will be of immense interest to scholars across disciplines and general readers. While celebrating the increasing acknowledgment of difference and diversity in recent times, this work reminds us of the ongoing ramifications of dominant structures of inequality, relations of power, and issues of inclusion and exclusion. This work offers different ways of thinking, writing and talking about globalization and the processes that emerge from it.

Memories establish a connection between a collective and individual past, between origins, heritage, and history. Those who have left their places of birth to make homes elsewhere are familiar with the question, "Where do you come from?" and respond in innumerable well-rehearsed ways. Diasporas construct racialized, sexualized, gendered, and oppositional subjectivities and shape the cosmopolitan intellectual commitment of scholars. The diasporic individual often has a double consciousness, a privileged knowledge and perspective that is consonant with postmodernity and globalization. The essays in this volume reflect on the movements of people and cultures in the present day, when physical, social, and mental borders and boundaries are being challenged and sometimes successfully dismantled. The contributors - from a variety of disciplinary perspectives - discuss the diasporic experiences of ethnic and racial groups living in Canada from their perspective, including the experiences of South Asians, Iranians, West Indians, Chinese, and Eritreans. Diaspora, Memory, and Identity is an exciting and innovative collection of essays that examines the nuanced development of theories of Diaspora, subjectivity, double-consciousness, gender and class experiences, and the nature of home.

This innovative volume discusses the significance of home and global mobility in contemporary diasporic fiction written in English. Through analyses of central diasporic and migrant writers in the United Kingdom and the United States, the timely volume exposes the importance of home and its reconstruction in diasporic literature in the era of globalization and increasing transnational mobility. Through wide-ranging case studies dealing with a variety of black British and ethnic American writers, Home, Identity, and Mobility in Contemporary Diasporic Fiction shows how new identities and homes are constructed in the migrants' new homelands. The volume examines how diasporic novels inscribe hybridity and multiplicity in formerly uniform spaces and subvert traditional understandings of nation, citizenship, and history. Particular emphasis is on the ways in which diasporic fictions appropriate and transform traditional literary genres such as the Bildungsroman and the picaresque to explore the questions of migration and transformation. The authors discussed include Caryl Phillips, Jamal Mahjoub, Mike Phillips, Hari Kunzru, Kamila Shamsie, Benjamin Zephaniah, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Cynthia Kadohata, Ana Castillo, Diana Abu-Jaber, and Bharati Mukherjee. The volume is of particular interest to all scholars and students of post-colonial and ethnic literatures in English.

Gender has a profound impact on the discourse on migration as well as various aspects of integration, social and political life, public debate, and art. This volume focuses on immigration and the concept of diaspora through the experiences of women living in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Through a variety of case studies, the authors approach the multifaceted nature of interactions between these women and their adopted countries, considering both the local and the global. The text examines the “making of the Scandinavian” and the novel ways in which diasporic communities create gendered forms of belonging that transcend the nation state.

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.