Diaspora Consciousness Research Articles

Refugee entrepreneurship in a non‐western country: How do Syrian refugee entrepreneurs respond to diaspora consciousness and negative prejudice?

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to identify how the diaspora consciousness of Syrian entrepreneurs in Egypt might affect their business practices. The research sample comprises semi‐structured interviews with Syrian refugee owners of small and medium‐sized businesses in Egypt. Thematic analysis was subsequently used to determine the main ideas in the transcripts from the interviews. The findings showed that diaspora consciousness stimulates Syrian refugees to actively engage in three categories of business‐related practices: contextual (expanding entrepreneurial activities outside their host country, desire to constitute a Western country‐based business venture), functional (reliance on a value chain within the same nationality, tending to adopt shadow economy practices), and procedural practices (preferring to develop family businesses, establishing only small and medium‐sized enterprises). This paper contributes by filling a gap in the literature on refugee entrepreneurship in which empirical studies on the effect of diaspora consciousness on the business practices of refugee entrepreneurs have been limited so far.

Tai Dam Diaspora Consciousness and Routes of Migration: An Analysis from Funeral Manuscripts

Abstract The objective of this study is to analyze Tai Dam funeral manuscripts called Kwam Bok Tang or Kwam Song Phi Khuen Mueang Fa. It is a comparative study conducted among Tai Dam or Lao Song in Thailand and Tai Dam in northwestern Vietnam. The texts reveal that Mueang Lo, Nghĩa Lộ in Vietnam, is the place of origin where the first community was established. It illustrates that the Khwan, the spirit or essence of life of the deceased, will be sent from the current settlement back along the route of migration to Mueang Lo before ascending to heaven to meet their ancestral spirits. Fittingly, this could be considered as Tai Dam diaspora consciousness of their ancestral homeland and the place of origin that records historical memory and historiography in forms of funeral manuscripts and rituals their funeral ceremony.

Experiencing Migration and Asylum Seeking: A Diasporic study of The Book of Rosy: A Mother’s story of separation at the Border by Rosayra Pablo Cruz and Julie Schwitert Collazo

This study delves into the experiences of migration and asylum-seeking through the lens of William Safran's diaspora framework, which centers on the concepts of dispersion, diaspora consciousness, and homeland connections. Employing Safran's theoretical model, the research critically analyzes the autobiographical work "The Book of Rosy" by Rosayra Pablo Cruz and Julie Schwietert Collazo, focusing on the challenges faced by migrants, particularly mothers, in the context of Trump's zero tolerance policy. The narrative provides an insightful portrayal of the multifaceted struggles of immigrants, revealing the emotional and psychological toll of forced separation at the Mexico border. The findings underscore the significance of community support and advocacy efforts in addressing the traumatic consequences of migration. This study contributes to a nuanced understanding of the human experiences entailed in the migration process and underscores the relevance of Safran's diaspora model in comprehending its complexities.

Existential Tensions and the Ifá Divinity in Isidore Okpewho’s Call Me by My Rightful Name

ABSTRACT This essay explores Okpewho’s Call Me By My Rightful Name (2004) and its unique contributions to the discourse of the old African diaspora consciousness. It examines how Okpewho harnesses the extraordinary element of existential tensions as a significant strategy to reconnect the old African diaspora to their ancestral community in Africa. Showing how this novel is similar, different and transcendent to other old African diaspora narratives, I argue in this piece that Okpewho’s mastery and use of the Ifá divinity that functioned as a reminder, an emotional therapy and a tour guide to reconnect the old African diaspora to their African ancestry, is a critical way to underscore the “Nigerianness” of such a contemporary neo-slave narrative. Okpewho is an important African diaspora writer whose works have been largely ignored and by interpreting his creative ingenuity as regards the old/new African diasporic experiences, I bring a fresh contribution to the discourse of African literature in the diaspora.

Representation of Diasporic Aspects in Tell it to the Tress by Anita Rau Badami

The main aim of the research is to examine the diasporic aspects in detail with specific reference to Tell It To The Tress (2012) by Anita Rau Badami. Anita Rau Badami is an Indo-Candian author and this novel is a perfect evidence for the Indian diaspora written. In this novel, she categorizes the cross cultural and traditional conflicts and expresses the consciousness of diaspora of the women characters very well. This paper systematically research the diasporic aspects in the novel.

Double Consciousness of Diaspora in Bharati Mukherjee's Novel Wife

Double Consciousness of Diaspora in Bharati Mukherjee's Novel Wife

Wole Soyinka’s Ori Olokun Emprise and Autobiography

In Telling Our Stories: Continuities and Divergences in Black Autobiographies, I suggest that the overwhelming presence of the community is one of the major continuities in Black autobiographies of Africa, the Unites States, and the Caribbean. This focus on community manifests itself in terms of resistance, solidarity, and inclusiveness in the autobiographies of slaves, creative writers, and political activists. A new dimension to the superordinate presence of the community in Black autobiography is in terms of diaspora sensibility. This diaspora consciousness is symbolized in the Orí Olókun treasure that Wole Soyinka foregrounds in You Must Set Forth at Dawn. This paper focuses on the development of Soyinka’s diaspora consciousness in relation to the perceived presence of Orí Olókun in Bahia and his attempt with his colleagues to forcefully repatriate the treasure back to the public domain from where it was removed. The paper argues that what operates at the background of Soyinka’s group’s project of repatriating Orí Olókun from Brazil to Nigeria is the communal spirit of Yoruba and African nationalism that cuts across colonial geographical boundaries. The paper considers the role of Soyinka, Yai, Isola, and Abimbola in the attempt to repatriate Orí Olókun back to Nigeria. Emphasis is also on Soyinka’s narrative strategies and specifically the implications of his autobiographical medium to represent his and his community’s struggle to return what rightly belongs to them back to Nigeria. How the autobiographical genre develops that umbilical cord that links the Yorubas in Africa and the diaspora through the Ori Olokun episode is also considered.

“Somewhere I belong?” A study on transnational identity shifts caused by “double stigmatization” among Chinese international student returnees during COVID-19 through the lens of mindsponge mechanism

Chinese international students who studied in the United States received "double stigmatization" from American and Chinese authorities because of the "political othering" tactic during COVID-19. The research used a phenomenological approach to examine why and how specifically the transnational identity of Chinese international students in the United States shifted during the double stigmatization. The researcher conducted a total of three rounds of interviews with 15 Chinese international students who studied in the United States and returned to China between 2018 and 2020, which culminated in 45 interviews through a longitudinal study to probe the transnational identities of this population before and during the double stigmatization; the study also examined how the mindsponge mechanism worked during the identity shifts and the interplay among stigmatization, transnational identity shifts, and the mindsponge mechanism. The study concluded that before COVID-19, Chinese international students had been stigmatized in both China and the United States. And there were three identity clusters for international students' transnational identity: homestayers, wayfarers, and navigators based on four dimensions: intercultural competence, relocation of locality, diaspora consciousness, and attachment between China and the US. The study concluded that during the double stigmatization, Chinese international students in all three identity clusters took individualism into their core values, whereas Chinese traditional values, such as nationalism, collectivism, and obedience to authority waned. In addition, the study corroborated the trust evaluator's gatekeeper role and substantiated the validity and effectiveness of cost-benefit analysis on an individual's decision to accept or reject new information and values.

The “Black Art” Renaissance:African Sculpture and Modernism Across Continents

The “Black Art” Renaissance:African Sculpture and Modernism Across Continents

Entangled histories of place and reconfigurations of diasporic home: Al‐Andalus history and the Moroccan diaspora in Granada, Spain

AbstractIn this paper, I contribute to scholarship on diasporic geographies of home and develop ideas around “diaspora transregions” and “diaspora cities.” To do this, I examine Moroccan diaspora formations in the city of Granada in the south of Spain. I utilise the spatiality and history of Granada to reveal complex interpretations of diasporic home. In particular, I examine how the Muslim history of Al‐Andalus – which is intimately embedded in the urban landscape of Granada and also entangled into the history of the wider region – impacts on Moroccan diaspora consciousness. This involves examining how histories and geographies of Al‐Andalus are interpreted and experienced by those in the Moroccan diaspora, which in this analysis is a diasporic population primarily from northern Morocco. I analyse four intersecting impacts of history and place, including nostalgia and imagined geographies, religious and genealogical links to Granada and the wider region, identification with culture and the built environment, and finally the ambivalence of history on belonging. What this examination reveals is that the history of Al‐Andalus and an identification with historical circular migrations between northern Morocco and southern Spain can engender a sense of being part of multiple diasporic journeys and settlements, and subsequently a ‘homing desire’ to multiple spaces. A key contribution here is the illustration of how entangled urban and regional histories can reconfigure more normative notions of the diaspora condition. Diasporic connections to deep histories of place and migration can rework senses of home and refute notions of a linear homing desire to a singular nation‐state. This demonstrates that diasporic belongings are not always limited to the parameters of the nation, but rather are informed by the intersections of urban and regional cultures, religions, and histories.

ПРАКТИКИ СОЛИДАРНОСТИ ЛИВАНСКОЙ ДИАСПОРЫ В МИРЕ В ПЕРИОД ПАНДЕМИИ КОВИД-19

The article examines the Lebanese diaspora, its relations with the Lebanese society and the situation in the world. The data is analyzed and the location of Lebanese diasporas in different parts of the world is considered. Lebanese immigrant communities around the world make up the largest groups of Arab immigrants. As a diaspora, Lebanese communities have historical roots in almost every corner of the world. A more significant fact of the migration of Lebanese society is considered to be the beginning of the second half of the 19th century, the Lebanese immigrated to America, Africa and Northern Europe. Many factors have contributed to the spread of Lebanese society around the world. Lebanon has a free market economy and a strong commercial tradition of non-interference. The government does not restrict foreign investment, but the investment climate suffers from bureaucracy, corruption, arbitrary licensing decisions, complex customs procedures, high taxes, tariffs and fees, archaic legislation, and inadequate protection of intellectual property rights [4. Р. 143]. The idea of a diaspora-a dispersed ethnic group spanning national borders-has been revived by the intensity of global processes over the past few decades towards understanding the immigrant experience. In its Greek origin, the term diaspora means the scattering of seeds and thus means an association with migration and colonization, implying acculturation and assimilation while preserving an ingrained tradition. Also, the diaspora captures much of our analytical and popular imagination and requires explanatory power in describing the presence and conditions of the immigrant population. Understanding their position as a product of global economic, political and cultural dynamics, Lebanese immigrants demonstrate forms of identification, social ties and ways of cultural expression that take into account the global diaspora consciousness [2. Р. 82]. The diaspora, on the other hand, provides an entry into the study of the global situation and the dynamics of the economy. It should be noted that the Lebanese diaspora is an important group for studying the dynamics of immigration and how immigrants are affected by global economic, political and cultural processes.

Self in mobility: exploring the transnational in-between identity of Chinese student returnees from the UK

ABSTRACT Situated within the changing dynamics of international student mobility, this paper explores the meaning of transnational in-between identity. The empirical evidence is based on the key findings of a four-year qualitative study on Chinese students who returned from the UK after completing their university degrees. The paper argues that transnational in-between identity is a fluid and diverse process of self-formation through which agency interacts with the four key dimensions of intercultural competence, reconstruction of locality, diaspora consciousness and mixed senses of belonging. The conceptual contribution of this research is that it combines transnationalism, a theory normally confined to the field of migration studies, and the concept of in-betweenness, derived from intercultural adjustment, to investigate the identity changes experienced by student returnees.

Hearts in the Hometown: Diaspora Consciousness and Literature of the Tang and Song

Abstract Originating in the experience of geographical dispersion and survival, the concept of diaspora (lisan 離散) can be extended to diaspora consciousness (lisan yishi 離散意識) and its correlate, return consciousness (huigui yishi 回歸意識). The famous group of Tang and Song intellectuals who were forced to leave hometown political/cultural centers and dream, perennially, of return constitutes the early Chinese embodiment of diaspora-return consciousness. For many “hometown” (guxiang 故鄉) came to mean not just their homeland but their ideal destination or spiritual home, as in Su Shi's 蘇軾 (1037–1101) “wherever my heart is at peace is my home.” The layered features of this diaspora-return (lisan-huigui 離散—回歸) consciousness led to a unique literary style and the development of tropes that would shape Chinese writing for a millennium. Political banishment yielded an unintended yet undeniable cultural value.

A Life on the Hyphen-Bicultural Identity in Virgil Suarez’s Going Under

This thesis is intended to delve into the one-and-a-half generation of Cuban-American’s bicultural identity in Virgil Suarez’s novel Going Under. Through an interpretation from the perspective of diaspora consciousness, this paper will identify how the main character constructs his individual identity through a network of usually competitive and incompatible elements like language, culture, religion, political ideologies and so on. Xavier Cuevas, the protagonist in this novel, maintains an unstable relationship with the American culture which he believes he has been wholly assimilated. The tension and anxiety lead him to “go under” and search for roots to return to the moment before exile.

Delhi, diaspora and religious consciousness: heritage and palimpsest architecture in M. G. Vassanji’s A Place Within: Rediscovering India

ABSTRACT Intangible heritage and architecture, articulate specific cultural processes and history. In Vassanji’s non-fictional narrative A Place Within: Rediscovering India, there is place-making through the lens of culture, religion, history, politics and migration. Positioning himself as a tourist to his ancestral homeland, the author makes observations that can be critiqued through the concept of ‘palimpsest’ – an intriguing ‘layering’ that gesture at wider circuits of culture. This study is an examination of the diasporic consciousness, religious encounters; heritage narrative features, the tracing of overlapping cultural spheres in Delhi, aesthetic and political tensions, as represented in Vassanji’s narrative. The article is an exploration of a broad system of cultural and religious discursive constructions and practices in architecture, as suggested in the non-fictional narrative.

Translanguaging as an expression of transnational identity

Abstract Non-linguists are usually able to discriminate accurately between different language patterns (Niedzielski and Preston 2003; Preston 2010) although long-standing scholarly tradition has often, if not always, contradicted their views of language (Boas 1917; Bloomfield, in Hall 1950). Moreover, in diasporic settings, speakers’ constant need of renegotiating the problem of ethnicity is often resolved in their willingness to shed their regional, linguistic and ethnic identities to the detriment of their more general pan-Indian one (Jayaram 2004). In an Indian diasporic community situated in Heidelberg, Germany, perceived subtle differences in L2 phonological characteristics may index local and situated ethnic identities. In order to ascertain whether dialectal variation has salience for the community, this paper presents findings on how translanguaging might be a valuable linguistic resource in the expression of speakers’ ethnic identities. A qualitative analysis of questionnaires, interviews and informal conversations has delineated a new ‘diaspora consciousness’ (Vertovec 1997) in light of the transient aspect of the community in question.

A travel in the narrative turn of the consciousness of a diaspora ghost in The Hounding of David Oluwale

Abstract There is a sense in which African Diasporic contemporary narrative-centred drama helps in the reconceptualization of images, identity and the perception of ‘self’ against the ‘others’ within the totality of the experiences of the individual that form the sum of his/her consciousness. And, if we agree with Jean-Paul Sartre that consciousness is intentionality, it means that such images, identity, conceptualization and perception are prompts for narrative performance action and counter-action. In essence, narrative consciousness is not a mere dormant awareness and recreation of a state of being; it is perhaps an agent provocateur of crisis that often motivates characters to destructive actions. This is what we see in the recreation of Oluwole’s life in The Hounding of David Oluwale. The tragic end of Oluwole appears to have a link to the consciousness of his black ‘self’ against that of the white ‘others’, and this seems to, even now, underscore the uneasy life of the new African Diasporas in their host communities. It appears that there is an inherently sustained overt and covert conflict in the relationship between the Diasporas and their host. It is for this reason that one feels that the understanding of the narrative consciousness of the playwright and that of the characters in the play in existential dialectical terms is necessary as we continue to engage with the challenges of the life of the African Diasporas. This article, therefore, analyses the consciousness of the African Diaspora ‘selves’ against the ‘others’ of their hosts as reflected in the play.

Diaspora and Class Consciousness: Chinese Immigrant Workers in Multiracial Chicago

Diaspora and Class Consciousness: Chinese Immigrant Workers in Multiracial Chicago

Contested memories: the Shahid Minar and the struggle for diasporic space

Drawing on new empirical research on ‘the Bengal diaspora’, this paper explores the struggle over Bangladeshi identity in East London, as exemplified in the monument of the Shahid Minar and the related celebration of Ekushe, which marks the beginning of the Bangladesh national liberation struggle. Bringing together theories of diaspora consciousness and memorialization, the paper explores the ways in which rituals and memory work both as a form of continuity with the homeland and as a method of claims-staking for minority groups in multicultural spaces. Using original interviews with community and religious leaders, the paper explores the ways in which the establishment of the monument and the memorialization of the Liberation War represents the re-imagination of the Bangladeshi community in London and draws the lines for the contestation of this identity.

Geographies of the Caribbean in Cristina Garcia’s The Agüero Sisters

Marked by a two-fold estrangement - from her native Cuba and from the Cuban American community in Miami - Garcia’s first two novels, Dreaming in Cuban (1992) and The Agüero Sisters (1997) - mirror the vagaries of a divided Cuba, its spatial and symbolic dissemination. This article argues that grafting, whether literal (botanical, anatomic) or metaphorical (textual, cultural or linguistic) is a central trope in The Agüero Sisters, functioning as a recurrent trope in the processes of discovery, dissemination, depletion and recovery explored in the novel. The paper further argues that Cuba’s political turmoil and economic disorder are mirrored in the unleashing forces of the natural elements, in the ravaged landscape of the human body and of the island. Conversely, there reigns an opulent but sterile (dis)order on the other side of the Florida Straits. By examining the shifting perspectives, the contrapuntal narrative structure and deterritorialized (borderless) language in Garcia’s novels, the paper will probe the thematic and textual representations of a “diaspora consciousness” (James Clifford). Ultimately, Garcia’s novel seems to question the very possibility of “at-homeness” (Adorno, Minima Moralia), conceived in strictly territorial and cultural terms.