Introduction – Diaspora and Transnationalism

Return Migration

“…The manner in which transmigrants conceptualize their experiences and construct their collective identities is shaped by both the political and economic context of their country of origin and the country of settlement (Schiller, Basch, & Blanc, 1995;Somerville, 2008). Further, the transnational studies cover a wide range of key concepts, such as nation, ethnicity, identity, culture, society, place, space, home, nostalgia, etc., which help us understand the multifocal and interdisciplinary nature of mobility from the perspectives of both who have moved and the recipient societies (Quayson & Daswani, 2013).…”

“…Brubaker (2005) argues that a diaspora should consist of at least three core elements: dispersion, homeland orientation, and boundary maintenance. Recently, the words transnationalism and diaspora have also started to be used interchangeably even though there are subtle differences between them (Quayson & Daswani, 2013). Tsuda (2009a) describes two types of return of diasporic migrants: the return of first generation immigrants to their country of birth and 'ethnic return migration' referring to the 'return' of second and subsequent generation immigrants to their country of heritage after having lived abroad.…”

“…It has been noted that migrants experience a simultaneous sense of rupture and alienation when returning to the place called 'home' (Quayson & Daswani, 2013). Schiller and Fouron (2001) compared the first generation Haiti people's perception of home upon return to the 'old clothes that no longer fit.'…”

Intellectual Kurdistanbul – Approaching Istanbul As A Diasporic Experience

“…Using the concept of diaspora in this respect allows to place "the discourses of 'home' and 'dispersion' in creative tension, inscribing a homing desire while simultaneously critiquing discourses of fixed origins" (Brah, 2005, p. 193). This means that diaspora and its more general concept of transnationalism, allows for the re-organization of understandings of nation and fixed identities, and the investigation of border-crossing processes contextually (see also Krätke, Wildner, & Lanz, 2012;Quayson & Daswani, 2013).…”

New orientations to identities in mobility

“…to what extent one's membership, affiliation, and sense of belonging are affected by the process of change; how people take on the challenges of developing and creating new identities; and how different aspects of identities interact with each other? The new focus on identities in mobility also feeds into the wider debate on the notions of diaspora, transnational communities, and more recently, translocal communities (see Quayson and Daswani 2013), as researchers find terms such as migrants or minorities increasingly unsatisfactory.…”