Diaspora Youth Research Articles

Cultivating seeds abroad: China’s and Turkey’s diaspora youth diplomacy

ABSTRACT China and Turkey are among the world’s top emigrant sending countries. How and why have they invested in their diaspora youth, particularly over the last two decades? The significance of young diasporans for international affairs remains understudied. Building on the concept of ‘diaspora youth diplomacy’, we provide a rare comparative study investigating diaspora diplomacy and show that China and Turkey similarly engage their diaspora youth through homeland tours, linguistic and educational programmes, and empowerment strategies. These initiatives seek to maintain Chinese and Turkish presence abroad by forging loyal support, which is crucial for regime survival and these countries’ global reputation as strong powers. Yet host countries have also interpreted these endeavours as a security threat. Our findings draw from official documents, speeches, polls, and news sources in Chinese, Turkish, and English and provide a better understanding of foreign affairs in the context of state sovereignty, security, and authoritarianism.

Youth responses to state-manufactured diaspora mobilization: Turkey’s diaspora governance and the politics of selective engagement

ABSTRACT Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has implemented transnational policies to strengthen ties among diaspora youth in Europe with Turkey. However, these policies have been highly selective and geared towards regime-loyal groups in the diaspora. This article focuses on the group-level dynamics of AKP’s transnational youth outreach and examines the responses of dissident youth in the diaspora to these policies. We argue that there is significant variation in how AKP’s youth outreach strategies are received by diaspora youth and that the AKP’s state-sponsored intervention in diasporic spaces not only transforms loyalist diaspora organizations, but also affects the identification and mobilization dynamics of dissident groups.

‘Throwing in my two cents’: Burundian diaspora youth between conventional and transformative forms of mobilization

ABSTRACT Since its independence in 1962, Burundi has witnessed several episodes of civil war and political unrest. The most recent of these, which started in 2015, triggered the migration of approx. 400,000 Burundians to neighbouring countries and the rest of the world. Based on interviews with first- and second-generation Burundian youths living in France and Belgium, this contribution examines how Burundian diasporic youth mobilizes against the authoritarian regime in Burundi. It explores what motivates their engagement, and how they evade control and navigate threats of repression. It also sheds light on different mobilization paths, between rather conventional types of engagement and transformative forms of activism. It shows how Burundian diasporic youth in Belgium and France have developed a reflexive form of transnational awareness building on their hyphenated identities and challenging simplistic binaries, notably by identifying similarities between structures of power and oppression in Burundi and their countries of residence.

The ‘ideal citizen’ abroad: engaging Rwanda’s young generation diaspora

ABSTRACT When approaching its diaspora, the Rwandan government pays special attention to the young generation. Diaspora youth are seen as especially potent contributors to Rwanda’s development and security – but also as a potential threat. The article analyzes how Rwanda reaches out to, frames and strives to form young Rwandans abroad. Building on interviews, online diaspora events and media reports, it discusses how the state not only seeks support from Rwandan youth abroad, but also attempts to shape them into ‘ideal citizens’ who are patriotic, disciplined, productive and innovative. Many young diasporans embrace these outreach efforts and the opportunities they offer. Others, who criticize the Rwandan regime, are exposed to various cooptation and silencing tactics. The article shows how state efforts to foster ‘ideal citizens’ not only target immigrants but also emigrants and their descendants, and how migrant-sending states entwine inclusion and exclusion as they engage their young generation diaspora.

Being-in-family and being-in-community: Ontological (in)securities, diaspora youth agencies, and the Rwandan emigration state

Being-in-family and being-in-community: Ontological (in)securities, diaspora youth agencies, and the Rwandan emigration state

A Pandemic Adaptation and Its Aftermath: Using AI and In-Person Facilitation for Community Health Education in Liberia and the United States.

Health promotion commonly focuses on supporting youth wellness, as health behaviors acquired in childhood and adolescence tend to have a significant impact on an individual's future. Adolescent health education is associated with positive health and educational outcomes, yet young people experience barriers to fully engaging in learning about health issues that are often unique to their social location. Barriers for successful engagement in health education for African diaspora youth in North American and European contexts may include school initiatives built around engagement models that do not center Black youth; for Black youth in majority-Black societies, barriers may include access to resources or exclusionary practices based on other social characteristics. Global health promotion has used a variety of multimodal educational tools from radio to more recently online engagement, especially in African contexts, to reach young people. This essay shares experiences using AI and in-person facilitation to engage in community health education with youth in Liberia and the United States. In our practice, we found that there are far more underlying systemic and structural similarities to the inequities experienced between African and Black American youth and that utilizing AI tools alongside of in-person discussion may contribute to better outcomes for youth health education.

Cypriot Youth Views Matter: Comparison of Diaspora and Islander Youth’s Views on Peace

ABSTRACT This contribution compares the perception of peace of Cypriot youth, who live on the island and in the United Kingdom, and is based on interviews with them. Even though Cyprus has a large diaspora community compared to its population, diaspora studies have been unable to garner attention to the role of the Cypriot diaspora in peacebuilding in their homeland. Ignorance of young people both on the island and in the diaspora has prevented the inclusion of Cypriot youth in politics and peace processes. However, the role and perceptions of young people either in diaspora or on the island are quite important to reach sustainable peace. Youth’s readiness for peace and willingness to co-exist would affect the outcome of a process. Accordingly, this contribution of the collection offers a two-part contribution to the literature: first, focusing on the neglected youth dimension in peace and conflict studies, and second, providing a comparative analysis of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot diaspora youth in the diaspora studies.

Diaspora engagement and return migration for educational purposes in Estonia and Kazakhstan

Purpose This study examines diaspora engagement and return migration programs aimed at providing diaspora youth with an opportunity to obtain higher education in Estonia and Kazakhstan. In particular, the authors sought to identify the main motivations, benefits and challenges of the programs, as well as understand how the programs contribute to the ethnic identity formation of diaspora students.Design/methodology/approach The paper employed a qualitative multiple-case study research design. In both countries, data were collected by means of 26 semi-structured interviews with return migrant students and experts involved in implementing the programs.Findings The study findings suggest that the primary motivations for diaspora youth to return to their homelands are tuition-free higher education, financial support and repatriation prospects in both countries. In Estonia, the scholarship holders struggled with language requirements for university admissions, the cost of living insufficiently covered by the monthly stipend and limited integration opportunities. In Kazakhstan, the students had to face the Russian language barrier and socio-cultural marginalization in their everyday life. It was also found that the return migrant students in Estonia and Kazakhstan develop hybrid identities to integrate into their domestic society. They reinforce their ethnic identities and negotiate their diasporic identities to make sense of their own background and cultural heritage and acclimatize to life in the new context.Originality/value The study provides practical implications for policy implementers and policymakers in Estonia and Kazakhstan. It can also be useful for the worldwide research community interested in exploring education-oriented diaspora engagement and return migration programs and their influence on the ethnic identity of diaspora students.

The Rohingya Diaspora: A Narrative Inquiry into Identity

This study examined the key experiences and aspects of the life of Rohingya diaspora youth through exploratory Narrative Inquiry. Three semi-structured interviews were held with six participants from the Rohingya community in Malaysia. Responses were analyzed and categorized into three broad sections based on Cultural Historical Activity Theory: environmental impacts on lived experience, the diversity of sociocultural origin within the Rohingya community, and the impact of historical processes on cultural change. It was noted that the Rohingya culture is rich with diverse experiences and origins far beyond its current circumstances. Rohingya youth identify strongly with their experiences of life in Arakan and note that the younger generations missing this experience are less connected with their Rohingya identity. Beyond that, much of the threat to self-perception within the community came from external reductive narratives based only on their plight. In order to establish a constructive framework to support the Rohingya people, it is therefore critical to better understand them as a culture beyond their hardships.

#WeWillWin: Mobilisation of Jerusalem's Armenian youth and digital acts of citizenship during the Second Artsakh War

AbstractThis focused digital ethnography explores Armenian diaspora youth mobilisation via hashtag activism concerning a homeland conflict, examining the impact of digital citizenship acts on diaspora nationalism and identity negotiation. Taking Jerusalem's Armenian School as a case study, I analyse the school's use of Facebook amid a global pandemic to coordinate youth mobilisation around the viral hashtag #WeWillWin during the Second Artsakh War between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. Ethnographic content analysis was applied to student‐created audiovisual materials, which were contextualised using interviews with schoolteachers and young adults. Considering complex geopolitics within a conflict‐ridden landscape, Armenian youth's audiovisual posts in cyberspace represent empowering, performative statements of identity and citizenship tethered to an imagined Armenian transnation. For diasporic youth facing uncertainty, crisis and marginalisation in local milieus, social media can constitute hybrid spaces between home and homeland for expressions of agency and dissent, identity negotiation and citizenship performance.

Engaging the next generation: authoritarian regimes and their young diaspora

Recent scholarship on diaspora engagement and transnational repression has investigated how authoritarian regimes seek to engage, govern and control their diasporas. Recognizing that diasporas are diverse and that homeland states thus devise different strategies in relation to different groups, this research has—to a large extent—focused on the varied positions held by regime supporters and dissidents. Inter-generational differences, however, have not been studied in this context. Drawing on established frameworks theorizing extraterritorial authoritarian practices, this article explores the ways in which second-generation diaspora—or diaspora youth—is either included as subjects, patriots and clients, or excluded as outlaws and traitors by authoritarian regimes. Drawing on the literature on transnationalism and second-generation migrants, and using examples from empirical cases, we argue that the skills, resources and multi-sited embeddedness of the second-generation diaspora can make them particularly interesting targets for transnational engagement—or repression. We draw attention to specific strategies for mobilizing the support of diaspora youth, but also note that some techniques to control or repress extraterritorial subjects are less efficacious in relation to this generation.

Transnational Mobilization of Future Generations by Non-Democratic Home States: Turkey’s Diaspora Youth Between Empowerment and Co-optation

ABSTRACTWhile many aspects of state-diaspora relations have been explored, the role that youth play in state-led diaspora outreach remains under-researched in the literature. Democratic and non-democratic states alike, however, actively target diaspora youth for a variety of reasons. In this article, we explore how and why a non-democratic state like Turkey engages with its perceived diaspora youth by focusing on the AKP regimes’ recent engagement within its European diasporas as a case study. We argue that the AKP regime has proactively bolstered transnational youth engagement policies over the last decade with the goal of creating a loyal diaspora that will serve the regime in the long run. We show that selected diaspora youth are not only empowered, but also co-opted and mobilized by the regime to ensure continued influence in the diaspora—ultimately to incorporate them into authoritarian consolidation efforts back home and to turn them into assets that lobby host country governments.

An analytic interpretation on the importance of India's soft power in international cultural diplomacy over the centuries

India’s Soft Power which is part of Smart Diplomacy or cultural diplomacy in India. India’s soft power diplomacy can be traced back to the time when Swami Vivekananda visited Chicago Parliament of Religion and spoke about Hinduism and India, which attracted many Indians and Foreigners who visited India and learnt about the Indian culture and the Sanskrit, his book on Raja Yoga influenced Western countries to practice Yoga who came to India and visited asharams, India’s main soft powers include spiritualism, yoga, Ayurveda, the world is shifting towards organic method of treatment which has its trace in India. There is culture exchange of arts, music, dance. Indian Diaspora and Young youth are the weapons for the spread of Indian culture across the globe, People are interested in Indian culture and epics of Ramayana and Mahabharat and studying on Kautliya. India literature and craft have received international recognition, countries abroad have included Sanskrit as part of their educational curriculum. India has also emerged has an export of herbs medicine to many foreign countries like Middle East, Europe, Africa etc. and this soft power of India will help in creating a massive influence across the world but before that Indian should have ample knowledge about their own history and culture and languages.

Shadows of the past: violent conflict and its repercussions for second-generation Bosnians in the diaspora

ABSTRACT This article explores how diaspora youth is impacted by and deals with the legacies of the violent conflict in their parents’ homeland of Bosnia. Based on the analysis of narrative-biographic interviews with second-generation Bosnians in Switzerland and ethnographic observations in diaspora spaces, this paper highlights the repercussions that Yugoslav disintegration wars and, particularly, the war in Bosnia (1992–1995) have for young people who were raised in Switzerland. First, it demonstrates that instead of a coherent picture about the past, young people receive fragments and pieces of personal memories and experiences that their families went through. Second, the history of conflict has repercussions for the ways young people establish and articulate their sense of attachment and belonging to the homeland of their parents. Third, while second-generation Bosnians rarely reproduce the conflict dynamic themselves, they move in spaces in which the legacies of conflict continue to be an important discursive and structural force.

Pedagogies of Turkish Mosque Education in the Netherlands

Abstract This is a study of mosque pedagogies and their relevance for the formation of the moral and political identity of Turkish-Dutch youth. Based on fieldwork in two mosques affiliated with Milli Görüş and Diyanet in the Netherlands, the study identifies three different pedagogies practiced in the mosque classrooms: pedagogy of national identity building, unorthodox pedagogies of bonding, and pedagogies of moral formation. The findings show that teaching activities in both mosques contain messages pertaining to citizenship norms and values in areas such as interaction between different genders, ideas of crime, justice and punishment, relationship to authority and boundaries of individual autonomy. Apart from auxiliary use of Dutch and copying Dutch schools’ motivation and discipline strategies, we did not find specific Dutch aspects of the education that was provided. The intention to create a pious and nationalist diaspora youth was a common denominator for the pedagogies of both mosques.

TRANSNATIONALISM OF INDONESIAN DIASPORA YOUTH: POLITICAL MOVEMENT THROUGH THE CONFERENCE OF INDONESIAN DIASPORA

Objectives: This paper is aimed to study the transnational activity committed by Indonesian diaspora through the process of global framing as a way to influence the Indonesian political policies, namely, the rights of dual citizenship.
 Methodology: This study uses a qualitative research method and the technique of interview, literature studies, and documentation data gathering. The use of multi-level strategy in transnational advocacy networks is utilised to find the patterns of network segmentation, where the multi-level strategy itself consists of the grassroots level, national to international level. 
 Main Findings: The process of global framing by IDN Global have also showcased the input and the ongoing process, however, the output and the outcome are yet to come in the phases of initiation which then resulted in the formulation of initiatives on transnationalism long term goals and sustainability. The discourse of diaspora constitutes a new culture of Indonesia, thus several transformations that are conducted by the government aimed in empowering its diaspora requires a deeper process and further research..
 Implication: In accordance to the transnational activities in the shape of global framing conducted by IDN Global in influencing Indonesian government policy shows input and ongoing processes, however, the output and overcome are yet in the process of initiation which resulted in the formulation of initiatives as an effort of a long term goal-oriented transnationalism.
 Novelty/ Originality of the Study: This writing will explain how far the effort of transnationalism conducted by the IDN Global, have accommodated the various aspirations to political contestation inside of the congress.

Diaspora Identity and a New Generation: Armenian Diaspora Youth on the Genocide and the Karabakh War

AbstractIn this article, we explore the role of the early 20th-century Armenian genocide and the unresolved Karabakh conflict of the 1990s in identity shaping among the new generation of Armenian diaspora—those who grew up after the establishment of the independent Armenian state in 1991. We draw on original interviews with diasporic youth in France, the United Kingdom, and Russia—diasporas that were largely built in the aftermath of the genocide and the Karabakh war. Diaspora youth relate to these events through transmitted collective memories, but also reconnect with the distant homeland’s past and present in new ways as they engage with new possibilities of transnational digital communication and mobility. Their experiences of identity shed light on how the new generation of diasporic Armenians defines itself in relation to the past; how this past is (re)made present in their interpretations of the Karabakh conflict and in everyday behaviors; and how diasporic youth experience the dilemmas of “moving on” from traumatic narratives that for a long time have been seen as foundational to their identity.

Fluid identities, diaspora youth activists and the (Post-)Arab Spring: how narratives of belonging can change over time

ABSTRACTThis paper explores the nexus between political remittances, political activism and narratives of belonging. Drawing on semi-directive interviews with activists of three Egyptian youth groups in Vienna and a discourse analysis of their Facebook activism between 2012 and 2017, it shows that major political events in the place of origin can play a key – albeit ephemeral – role in mobilising descendants of Egyptian migrants abroad. Political discussions and practices in Egypt were reproduced abroad, though to a far less extent. However, personal experiences in Vienna also heavily impregnated ideas about events in Egypt. Interviewees emphasised that the revolution in 2011 led to a renegotiation of their relationship to Egypt and for many, their activism was a way to claim their right to multiple identity constructions. Perceiving Egypt as an integral part of their dual identity, they sought to engage in political debates on integration issues in Austria parallel to raising awareness about political events in Egypt. However, as the government grew more authoritarian after the summer of 2013, identity constructions and political activities started to focus more on the Viennese context again, underlining how closely political activities and narratives of belonging are intertwined.

Ethnic identity without ethnic media? Diasporic cosmopolitanism, (social) media and distant conflict among young Kurds in London

Media are fundamental to the way communities make sense of conflicts. This also holds true for diaspora communities, who are involved in and affected by distant/homeland conflicts. Shifting away from the dominant focus on ‘radicalization’ through media in this context, this study looks at the role media play in making sense of such conflict among young Kurds in London. Data consist of focus groups with Kurdish youth, participant observations in community centres and ethnographic conversations. While media are generally perceived as the central forces through which diaspora youth experience and engage with the Kurdish conflict in Turkey, ethnic media, in particular Kurdish broadcasting, play a very limited role. The distance vis-à-vis ethnic media is analysed and explained through respondents’ discourses on diasporic cosmopolitanism. The results show that their shift away from ethnic media facilitates more solid ethnic identities and more enhanced engagements with the Kurdish conflict.

Politics of belonging and the Eritrean diaspora youth: Generational transmission of the decisive past

This article addresses the generational transmission of the decisive Eritrean past and illustrates its influence on the reinforcement and maintenance of Eritrean identity and sense of belonging to Eritrea on young Eritreans grown up in the diaspora. It argues that the transmission and preservation of narratives and knowledge about the decisive Eritrean past makes the Eritrean history a “chosen trauma”, which constitutes an important aspect of the formation of a collective identity. Thereby, the article focuses on two particular modes of transmissions: first, within families from parents to children and second, by the international conferences of the YPFDJ, the exile youth branch of the country’s ruling People’s Front for Democracy and Justice PFDJ. The generational transmission of a decisive past helps to understand the formation of identity and belonging of second-generation Eritreans and further contributes to the broader debate on post-migrant generations constituting belonging in a transnational field.