What Are “Reverse Diasporas” and How Are We to Understand Them?

Abstract

This article presents empirical evidence from two contemporary diasporas to support the thesis that formal return to the homeland does not necessarily “unmake” diasporas, as some scholars have previously suggested. I argue that, instead, so-called reverse diaspora formation processes take place, with important repercussions for the acculturation of co-ethnic immigrants in their nominal “homelands.” This article focuses on this latter issue, primarily on processes of identity formation and notions of belonging and home, which are particularly meaningful in the context of this diasporic “homecoming.” It draws on the structured comparison of the ethnic Greek and ethnic German diasporas from the former Soviet Union who moved to Greece and Germany after perestroika. Despite their rich and illuminating analogies and overlaps, these two diaspora groups have never been compared and contrasted before. After a brief historical contextualization, complicated processes of identity negotiation and belonging in the putative “historical homelands” are investigated comparatively, lending credence to the idea that “reverse” German and Greek diasporas have developed within (and often in conflict with) contemporary Greek and German societies. The fact that they occur simultaneously in both countries tends to suggest that the concept of reverse diaspora is an important one that needs closer attention from scholars in the future. The article concludes by outlining how we may conceptualize a reverse diaspora, based on existing definitions of diaspora. My research materials consist of in-depth qualitative data collected over the course of six years by means of eighty-one semi-structured interviews in Russian, German, and Greek with migrants and experts in Greece and Germany, embedded in ethno-graphic research and supplemented by statistical data.

Property investment and the making of the ambivalent elective Polish diaspora in Israel

“…Ambivalence towards the homeland is a common experience for members of minority groups (King & Christou, 2010). For instance, Hess (2008) describes the experience of Greek and German people who face social exclusion, expropriation, disenfranchisement, and stigmatization while living as minorities in the Soviet Union. After returning to their countries of origin, they engaged in reversed diaspora practices through diasporic Soviet activities).…”

Trends and patterns of post-communist migration from Russia to New Zealand since the 1990s

“…The USSR allowed resident ethnic Greeks, ethnic Germans and Jewish people to emigrate to Greece, Germany and Israel, respectively (through special resettlement programs set up by the receiving countries), because these groups experienced forced displacement and persecution in the USSR before, during and after the Second World War (Dietz, 2000; Ohliger and Münz, 2002; Remennick, 2009). These unique types of emigration flow from the USSR have been identified in the migration literature as ‘diasporic “homecomings”’ (Hess, 2008: 288), as migrations of ‘ethnic unmixing’ or ‘ethnic affinity’ (Brubaker, 1998: 1047), or as the ‘making and un-making’ of ethnic diasporas (Ohliger and Münz, 2002: 45). A common feature among these ethnic migrations was that migrants at their destination were legally privileged, since upon arrival in their ‘ancestral homelands,’ they were immediately awarded citizenship and granted all rights and benefits of the native population.…”

“…2 For in-depth discussion and analysis of ‘ethnic’ migrations from the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Russia: about ethnic Germans – see Brubaker (1998), Dietz (2000, 2003), Hess (2008), and Ohliger and Münz (2002); about ethnic Greeks – see Hess (2008); and about Jewish emigration – see Dietz (2000), Remennick (2009), Tolts (2003) and Trier (1996).…”

Diaspora economics: new perspectives

“…The mere fact that they return to the homeland is not sufficient to "unmake" the diaspora experience, identity, and mélange of culture, asserts Hess (2008). The author compares and contrasts the diasporas of 200,000 Greeks and 2.2 million Germans who repatriated to Greece and Germany respectively after perestroika from the former USSR.…”