Cultural Diaspora Research Articles

Chechen Diaspora in the countries of the Middle East: on the issue of generational continuity and socio-political dynamics of communities

The article is concerned with little-studied dynamics of the Chechen and, more broadly, North Caucasian Diaspora in Jordan, Syria and Turkey, starting with the emergence of these communities in the 19th century during the era of the Ottoman Empire. The article traces a slow change in the character of these diasporic communities from the “exodus” from the Russian Empire to the building up of international relations with the Chechen Republic in the 21st century on the basis of “cultural similarity” and the importance of the idea of an ideal ancestral home. The article argues that the Diaspora changed its character from a refugee Diaspora to an imperial Diaspora during the Ottoman Empire, and then became a “cultural Diaspora” with predominant narratives of cultural and geographical proximity with the country of origin a century after the resettlement. The article also argues that cultural and geographical similarity leads to the importance of ethnopolitical factor in international relations and diasporic politics.

Transnational Exchanges and Diaspora Culture of Zainichi Koreans and Korean Americans : Focusing on Articles from Sanzenri, Minto, Seikyu

Transnational Exchanges and Diaspora Culture of Zainichi Koreans and Korean Americans : Focusing on Articles from Sanzenri, Minto, Seikyu

Ethnographic Analysis of “Safe Zone” Concept in Migration in Global Perspective

Phenomena of migration can be realized as role of the culture of migration in the sense of globalization of migration in the first century. In these consequences, the focus of the present study is based on the study of the nexus of the culture of migration and globalization as the sense of safe zone concept in migration in the case of migration from South Asia to Gulf countries and beyond. The methodology of the study is based on ethnographic study through conducting multiple round field surveys in India and abroad from February 2015 to December 2019. Findings show that consequences of depth penetration of the culture of migration emerged as a “safe zone” where migrants find them self in a secure position to access guarantee of better jobs and life in the context of the role of migration. These consequences created socioeconomic and cultural transformation from root to destination as the formation of the cultural diaspora of migration in the context of the safe zone concept in migration. Therefore, the findings of the study develop an understanding concerning around the study of the new concept of migration as a safe zone in migration.

Time for Tea: Representations of Postcolonial and Chinese Diaspora Culture and Identity in Chuah Guat Eng’s Echoes of Silence

Tea, the second most consumed beverage in the world, originates from China, and was then brought all over the world through trade, affecting the many different cultures that it encounters along the way. The way a person takes their tea can often reveal parts of their cultural identity and upbringing. This paper aims to examine the representations of the hybrid identities of the Chinese Diaspora in Malaysia through a close reading of tea scenes and tea culture in Chuah Guat Eng’s first novel, Echoes of Silence: A Malaysian Novel, first published in 1994. The novel explores the complex race relations and postcolonial politics and identity in Malaysia and provides an excellent springboard for the examination of Malaysian literary cultural politics, as well as postcolonial issues such as cultural hybridity, and the way that culture spreads and is spread from one part of the world to another and is manifested in diaspora identities. Through such an exploration, I hope to examine the negotiation between the hybridizing culture of being overseas Chinese as well as a British subject simultaneously in relation to representations of tea consumption and culture in Anglophone literature, which may provide more insight into the mentality of Anglophone Malaysian writers concerning issues of cultural identity and diaspora.

An Overseas Chinese Author on Chineseness: A Study of Catherine Lim’s Novels

The objectives of this documentary research are to study Catherine Lim’s concept of Chineseness in the Chinese diasporic context as well as to investigate the identity and existence of the ethnic culture of the Chinese diaspora in the Straits Settlement. This study is analyzed through Lim’s three novels: The Bondmaid (1995), The Teardrop Story Woman (1998), and The Song of Silver Frond (2003). All the novels present stories of the Straits Chinese or the Chinese diaspora in the Straits Settlement, the territories under the British occupation in the age of colonisation. The findings reveal that Lim’s cultural and social upbringing in Straits Chinese society helped mold her as a female diasporic Chinese. Straits Chinese society in Lim’s novels is one that adheres to Chinese beliefs and cultural norms as well as their cultural roots. However, Lim still reflects how the context of displacement from the motherland becomes an important factor to dilute the sense of Chineseness among the Straits Chinese. Moreover, Lim also interestingly presents the images of Chinese diasporic women in various dimensions in her novels.

Cultural Identity and Racism

This paper delves into the intricate relationship between cultural identity, racism, and the various factors shaping these dynamics, particularly within the context of the United States. Cultural identity is explored as a pivotal aspect of individual and collective existence, profoundly influenced by racial constructs and historical legacies. Racism, deeply embedded in societal structures, is identified as a significant impediment to fostering harmonious cultural relations. This paper emphasizes the critical role played by films, academic works, artworks, and increased cultural diversity in shaping and improving cultural identities. Examining the concept of race, the paper underscores its historical and cultural underpinnings, pointing out its impact on societal divisions and inequalities. Stuart Hall, who promoted Afro-Caribbean cultural identity through cinema, is discussed. Cultural practices, historical events, and film depictions of the Black experience are examined as crucial to cultural identity maintenance and rediscovery. The paper also emphasizes race diversity and Black intellectuals' role in cultural reshaping. Cultural identity is complex, and double consciousness and Black Atlantic diaspora experiences are crucial. Music is especially effective at expressing cultural diaspora and continuity. Jazz and contemporary Black art movements helped shape cultural identity. The paper argues that art, intellectual pursuits, and written history help people feel connected and understand diverse cultures. Despite these positive influences, racism still hinders cultural identity, the paper says. The paper argues that cultural identities must be preserved by avoiding racism and promoting cultural relativity. Lack of cultural integration also erodes cultural identities. The paper concludes by emphasizing cultural identity preservation and recommends a multidisciplinary approach involving media, history, academia, and art for overcoming racism to promote diversity and cultural integration.

Interfacing the cultural dialectics of commodification and resistance: Nubian spatial/narrative repertoires as markers of hybrid diaspora culture

ABSTRACT Nubian culture is explored in the current study as a system of symbolic repertoires informed by dialectics. The study has drawn on the cultural approach to discourse (CAD) [Shi-xu. 2005. A Cultural Approach to Discourse. New York: Palgrave Macmillan; Shi-xu. 2014. “In Cultural Dialogue with CDA: Cultural Discourse Studies.” Critical Discourse Studies 11 (3): 360–369. https://do.org/10.1080/17405904.2014.890947; Shi-xu. 2015. “China’s National Defence in Global Security Discourse: A Cultural–Rhetorical Approach to Military Scholarship.” Third World Quarterly 36 (11): 2044–2058. https://do.org/10.1080/01436597.2015.1082423; Shi-xu. 2024. “Cultural Discourse Studies: A Culturalist Approach to Communication.” In The Routledge Handbook of Cultural Discourse Studies, edited by Shi-Xu, 9–24. London: Routledge] and spatial repertoires [Pennycook, Alastair. 2008. “Translingual English.” Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 31 (3): 30.1–30.9. https://do.org/10.2104/aral0830; Pennycook, Alastair. 2017. “Translanguaging and Semiotic Assemblages.” International Journal of Multilingualism 14 (3): 269–282. https://do.org/10.1080/14790718.2017.1315810] to explore Nubian culture as a dialectic phenomenon. The study has examined how Nubian culture is reformulated in terms of different performances in touristic and non-touristic sites. The adopted approach facilitates reaching a different view of Nubian culture which sits at the intersection of resistance and commodification.

Afrodiasporic Forms: Slavery in Literature and Culture of the African Diaspora , by Raquel Kennon

Afrodiasporic Forms: Slavery in Literature and Culture of the African Diaspora , by Raquel Kennon

Afrodiasporic Forms: Slavery in Literature and Culture of the African Diaspora, by Raquel Kennon

<i>Afrodiasporic Forms: Slavery in Literature and Culture of the African Diaspora</i>, by Raquel Kennon

Intertextuality and Ideology in Pseudo-Hecataeus

Abstract The article discusses the fragments of Pseudo-Hecataeus’ work “On the Jews” (Josephus, C. Ap. 1.183–205) from a new, literary perspective that highlights the author’s relationship to Hecataeus of Abdera, Clearchus of Soli, and Aristeas, and describes his position within contemporary Jewish culture in the Egyptian diaspora. Pseudo-Hecataeus demonstrates a strong anti-hellenization tendency in the questions which are of crucial importance for the native Egyptian Jewry: the adaptation of Greek education and translation of the law into Greek. The article also suggests that a famous discrepancy between Pseudo-Hecataeus and Aristeas in how they depict the origins of the Jewish community in Egypt can be considered as an antithetical rewriting by Pseudo-Hecataeus of the story told by Aristeas.

African Diaspora Protection: Amulets in New Spain, New Granada, and the Caribbean

Objective: To underline that beyond the territories under Portuguese rule, evidence of the use of protective amulets can also be found in places under Hispanic control and the Caribbean. This study aims to enrich historiography on the subject and dialogue with it regarding source analysis and a rereading based on the descriptions of central-western Africa from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. Methodology: It interrogates sources widely used for the study of African matrix cultures in America from a different perspective and reviews non-written sources that allow visualizing written ones in theircontext. Originality: This paper contributes to the understanding of how sources can be reread to research African Diaspora cultures in the light of their connected history, tracing the use of these amulets in specific socio-cultural contexts. Conclusions: By considering and interrogating diverse sources on the conversion of Africans and the African diaspora in the Americas, these stories transcend the immutable benevolence of Catholicism and Eurocentrism and question the myopia of the Jesuits and inquisitors in New Spain and New Granada when observing African customs.

Model Penelitian dan Penjelasan Sejarah Sosial: Kelompok Reog sebagai Diaspora Warga Ponorogo di Jember tahun 1950-2005

Reog Ponorogo is one of the performing arts that characterizes the native people of Ponorogo. The cultural diaspora was experienced by Ponorogo’s group residents, who settled in Jember and established the existence of their original culture in their residence. This existentialist shows the emergence of the process of assimilation-structuralism. Using a field study approach accompanied by a literature review, this article will discuss and formulate research instruments and historical explanations from case studies of the establishment of reog groups by Ponorogo residents in Jember from 1950 to 2005.

Russian Architectural Heritage in the Xinjiang-Uygur Autonomous Region of China as Manifestation of Interethnic and Intercultural Interaction in the 19th-21st Centuries

The author identifies the Russian architectural heritage in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China in the process of intercultural and interethnic interaction of the Russian Diaspora with the peoples of the province. In this regard, the subject of the study is the preserved monuments of Russian culture - residential buildings, temples, cemeteries. The structure of the study is determined by the need to explore the mutual influence of the culture of the Russian diaspora and those of local peoples on the example of architectural structures. The research is based on modern literature, as well as documents of Russian archives: materials deposited in the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire, the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation, the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Military Historical Archive. Most of them have not been introduced into scientific use before. The author identifies the features of intercultural and interethnic interaction of representatives of the Russian diaspora with local peoples for a long time and depending on the political situation in the region. It is noted that at the stage of the formation of the Russian Diaspora in the XUAR there were difficulties in the relations between Russians and representatives of local ethnic groups. At the same time, the local culture had a serious impact on the development of the Russian diaspora. There is noted the rather competent policy of the Chinese and Russian authorities at the present stage to support the culture of Russians in Xinjiang, although the author does not exclude difficulties in its further preservation. Therefore, according to the author, there is a need for further close interaction between the Chinese and Russian authorities in order to determine new courses of cooperation in this direction.

MAXIM BEREZOVSKY IN THE MUSICAL CULTURE OF THE UKRAINIAN DIASPORA

The life and work of the great Ukrainian composer Maxim Berezovsky (1745–1777), which is multifaceted in the musical culture of the Ukrainian diaspora over the last two centuries, remains a little-covered topic, which is the purpose of our article. First of all, this is the performance of his spiritual works by choral groups in all countries of the world. The composer’s works were published by the Scientific and Theological Institute of the UOC in Bound Brook (USA) under the editorship of V. Zavitnevich, as well as by the «Musicus Bortnianskii» institution (Canada) under the arrangement and editing of M. Maksimiv. Leading foreign musicilogists dedicated their publications to M. Berezovsky’s work: F. Steshko (Czechoslovakia), P. Matsenko (Canada), A. Rudnytsky (USA), R. Savitsky-Jr (USA), O. Pytsko (Great Britain). In the German-language monograph by M. Antonowycz (Holland) «Ukrainische geistliche Musik. Ein Beitrag zur Kirchenmusik Osteuropas» (1990) an overview of the choral church music of M. Berezovsky as a Ukrainian composer was carried out. In his monograph in Dutch «Oekraїne en de Byzantijnse ritus» M. Berezovsky is also mentioned. Therefore, the introduction of M. Antonowycz’s monographs in foreign languages to the scientific field expands the Ukrainian discourse of church music in the international musicological space. The greatest achievement of the musicilogical thought of the diaspora was the monograph by V. Vytvytsky (USA) about the life and work of M. Berezovsky. The scientific novelty of the study consists in the comprehensive coverage of M. Berezovsky’s creativity in the musical culture of the Ukrainian diaspora. The research methodology is based on a combination of general scientific and special art studies methods, in particular historicalcultural and phenomenological. The specified methodological approach allows us to consider the presentation of M. Berezovsky’s creativity in the musical culture of the Ukrainian diaspora as a result of the efforts of representatives of various fields of musical art (choral groups, musicologists, publishers) and a unique phenomenal phenomenon.

From Divided to Diasporic: Re-envisioning Italian American Texts through Transformative Translingual Practices

From Divided to Diasporic: Re-envisioning Italian American Texts through Transformative Translingual Practices

Kevin Dawson, Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora

Kevin Dawson, Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora

The Formation of Chinese Diaspora Culture and the Qiaoxiang Ties: A Case Study of Singapore’s Teochew Community

Cet article utilise la théorie Qiao Yi pour discuter du phénomène de mobilité et de variabilité de la diaspora chinoise, en se concentrant sur la formation de la culture de la diaspora chinoise. À travers une étude de cas de la communauté Teochew de Singapour, cet article traite de la reconstruction de la culture communautaire Teochew dans une perspective dynamique et transnationale. Il passe en revue le processus de formation de la culture communautaire Teochew et sa relation avec les qiaoxiang dans son contexte historique à long terme. Cet article repensera le modèle binaire de la culture sino-occidentale et discutera de la possibilité de l’existence et du développement d’une troisième forme culturelle, multiculturelle.

MIGRATION AS AN ADAPTATION STRATEGY: A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS

Considering the capability approach of Amartya Sen, in many instances, migration is an adaption strategy that is no longer freedom of choice; rather, people are forced to choose it. Specifically, people often choose migration for adaptation due to climate and environmental vulnerabilities. This Bibliometric analysis aims to provide a detailed overview of how migration is considered an adaptation strategy using the Scopus database. The search query includes 'migration,’ 'adaptation', 'vulnerability', and 'climate change' as the keywords. A total of 7,335 scientific documents, including books, book chapters, articles, and review papers for 2011-2021, were analyzed using VOSviewer software. The lexical network analysis suggests a strong connection between migration and adaptation. Moreover, the spatial network analysis suggests that the migration-related research works are primarily concentrated in the USA, the UK, and Australia. The findings of an intensive review of 38 Scopus index migration literature suggest that migration is the ultimate effect of climate change, and the researchers termed this an 'adaptation strategy'. Although numerous dimensions of migration and adaptation strategy have been explored in the literature, however, future research options are still available in the field of migration-adaptation comparing circular and permanent migration, gendered dimension from the left-behind perspective, cultural diaspora between the migrants and receiving country, policies on alternative adaptation strategies, adaptation due to freedom of choice and forced migration from the wellbeing perspective. Moreover, heightened research collaboration is strongly suggested among the top migrant-sending and receiving countries to get more insights and policy formulation.

A Study of Paradigms and Theoretical Key Words of Asian American Literary Criticism

A Study of Paradigms and Theoretical Key Words of Asian American Literary Criticism

Migrating narratives: re-inscribing black diaspora cultures

ABSTRACT This essay traces the predominant counter-hegemonic, counter-discursive political and cultural models that obtain on either side of the Atlantic – the black Atlantic and the (pan-)Africanist. Typically read as disparate, even oppositional, competing ideologies, this essay examines the ways in which black Atlantic and Africanist thought migrate – travelling and journeying in ironic echoes and reverberations – across space and time, following similar contours that inscribe troublingly totalizing and exclusionary ideational narratives of black diaspora cultures and ontologies. Engaging the delimiting, signifying imprints and prescriptive modalities that inform and structure both theoretical models, this essay attempts to put black Atlantic and Africanist paradigms into conversation in ways that expand critical studies of black diasporic cultures, African cultures, and their intersecting relationships. In this regard, arguing that such intersectional relations can be evidenced in the migratory, border-crossing ethos and transgressive aesthetic of contemporary African diasporic literature, the essay’s particular reading of Adichie’s Americanah and Bulawayo’s We Need New Names suggests the ways in which these texts advance an ethical imperative for more malleable, inclusive and expansive, ways of reading and re-inscribing the (black) world.