Diaspora

Abstract

Contemporary diasporas are studied from many different perspectives. One widely acknowledged aspect is their capacity to illustrate dual homeness, and their challenging national cultures' aspiration to sociocultural unity. Insertion into new societies tends today to erode the singularity of diasporic communities, but the symbols they retain or create may still warrant cultural reproduction as transnational entities. The conceptual distinction between collective identity, identification, and identifying is helpful when considering how diasporas have become a factor in the multiculturalization of presentday societies, while themselves becoming multicultural entities through the influence of the cultures prevailing in the diverse environments of their dispersed communities. The incoherent -even chaotic -realities these contradictory tendencies generate for analysts are not necessarily perceived in these terms by the actors. Their presence in societies, their impact on non-diasporic populations, the new relations they create between original and new homelands, and above all their endeavor as interconnected cross-national spaces, represent developments that contribute to moving society towards a new era.

O Estrangeiro nas Diásporas Contemporâneas: Refugiados da Violência e Imigrantes Econômicos

“…As dificuldades das trajetórias percorridas para chegar no Brasil e os desafios enfrentados devido ao ajustamento doloroso proveniente da chegada em outro território sinalizaram as dificuldades de adaptção em uma sociedade cujo tratamento recebido é hostil e excludente (Bauman, 2017;Ben-Rafael, 2013;Elias & Scotson, 2000;Volkan, 2018).…”

Race, Nativity, and Multicultural Exclusion

“…Research on transnationalism and the politics of diaspora enriches this conversation by going beyond the analysis of domestic systems of national inclusion and bringing into focus transnational processes. This literature highlights the transnational processes inherent in the production and maintenance of ethnic, racial, and national identities both locally and abroad through political engagement with diasporas (Anthias 1998; Ben-Rafael 2013; Gamlen 2008; Laguerre 2006). Because ethnic/racial politics have both transnational and national effects, exploring how the mechanisms of multicultural inclusion work from this frame highlights new ways of understanding the role of the contemporary “nation-state” in managing groups.…”

“…6.A diaspora is a transnational community originating within a territory but extending across multiple countries while maintaining connections to its territory of origin. Although an ethnic group is typically understood as a sub-state entity existing within a state (Eriksen 1992), diasporas can be regarded as the extension of ethnic boundaries at the transnational level (Anthias 1998; Ben-Rafael 2013; Laguerre 2006). …”

What is citizen journalism? A critical analysis from the perspective of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

“…A descriptive notion, dispersion is often given religious or ideological connotations such as in the Hebrew token of galut (exile) that is imbued with messianic aspirations of 'Return' (Ben-Rafael, 2013). Thus the term 'diaspora', at its simplest, refers to a scattered population with a common origin in a smaller geographic location.…”