Introduction The PortugueseSpeakingDiaspora in GreatBritainand Ireland Jaine Beswick and Mark Dinneen Since thesixteenth century and thevoyages of thediscoveries, emigration has playeda pivotalrolein Portuguese lifeand culture. However,hugenumbers of nativePortuguese speakers fromBrazil,Angola,Mozambique,Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde,Macau, São Tomé and Príncipe,and East Timorhavealso shared suchmigratory experiences acrosstheglobe,and havethushelpedto establish important Portuguese-speaking diasporasthroughout Europe, the Americas andbeyond.Therehasbeen a upsurgeofinterest in diasporastudies in thelast twenty-five yearsor so, butit is somewhatsurprising thatdespitetheplethora ofresearch carried outintothephenomenon ofPortuguese-speaking migrations to Canada andtheUSA from theAzoresandBrazil,1 andto othercountries in Europe,2Portuguese-speaking migrations to GreatBritainand Irelandhavenot featured moreprominently. ThisspecialissueofPortuguese Studies examines justa fewexamples ofPortuguese-speaking migration to GreatBritain andIreland, but eachcasestudy is highly significant andtheirinclusionheregoes a longwayto rectifying thisglaring omission from diasporastudies. Buildingon twoinformal workshopsheld at ManchesterMetropolitan University in 2007 and at the University ofSouthampton in2008,itrepresents thefirst compilation ofleading 1 Amongst themost significant work onmigration toNewEngland istheliterary production ofOnésimo T.Almeida, himself anAzorean migrant. SeealsoCarmen Ramos,Tlie Metaphorical 'Tenth bland'inAzoreanLiterature: The Tlieme ofEmigration inthe AzoreanImagination (Lampeter: Edwin Meilen Press,2006). Recent non-literary workincludesDomingosMarquesand Manuela Marujo, WithHardened Hands: A Pictorial History ofPortuguese Immigration toCanada in theIQ50S(Toronto:New LeafPublications,1993); TliePortuguese in Canada: FromtheSea to the City, ed.byJoséCarlosTeixeira andVictor M. P.daRosa (Toronto: University ofToronto Press, 2000).Foraninteresting overview ofAzorean andCape Verde migration totheUS, see David E. Bertão, Tlie Portuguese ShoreWlialers ofCalifornia, 1854-1Ç04(San Jose: Portuguese Heritage Publications ofCalifornia, 2006);for Brazilian migration seeforexample MaxineL. Margolis,An Invisible Minority: Braziliansin New YorkCity (Boston, MA: Allynand Bacon, 1998).Andrea Klimt's early worklookedatPortuguese migration toGermany, butherlatest workrevisits migration totheUS: Kimberly da CostaHoltonandAndrea Klimt, Community, Culture andtheMakingsofIdentity: Portuguese-Americans AlongtheEastern Seaboard(Dartmouth: University ofMassachusetts Dartmouth, Centerfor Portuguese Studies andCulture, 2009). 2In Europe,themostprominent recentworkis thatof MichèleKoven,Selvesin Two Linguages:Bilinguals'VerbalEnactments of Identity in Frenchand Portuguese (Amsterdamand Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2007). Portuguese Studies vol.26 no. 1(2010),5-9© ModernHumanities Research Association 2010 6 JaineBeswick and Mark Dinneen interdisciplinary investigation oftheseparticular diasporicgroups,and seeksto shedlighton theirmigratory patterns, theirparticular migrant experiences and issues,aswellas their transnational andcross-cultural relationships. WithinthePortuguese-speaking diasporain theBritishIslestherearemany migrants who harbourplansto return to the homelandas soon as theyhave amassed enoughsavings to provide lasting financial security. However, manyend up settling in thereceptor society on a long-term or evenpermanent basis.The social,cultural andlinguistic impacttheyfrequently exerton thelocalspaceand thevitalroletheycan come to playin thelocal economyareclearly illustrated in some oftheessays in thiscollection.The research involved is certainly long overdue.At the same timethatpublic debateon immigration is intensifying more thanever,with increasing concernbeing expressedin the media over such issuesas social exclusion,racismand cultural conflict, academicresearch on diasporacontinuesapace. Broadly, contemporary studieshavetakenone of two directions: theoretical advancement,3 or specific case studies.4 Further, the recentUK-based and AHRC-funded researchprogramme titled'Diasporas, Migrationand Identities', has carriedout groundbreaking research intoglobal diasporaand migration, whilstconferences suchas thatheldin Lisbonin 2008 titled 'Narrating thePortuguese DiasporaConference: International Conference on Storytelling', servetobringtogether academics withaninterest inLusophone postcolonialstudies.To date,however,with the notableexceptionof earlier workbyauthors contributing tothisissue,5 thestudy ofthePortuguese-speaking diasporain Britainand Irelandhas largely been neglectedboth in publicand academicdiscourse. 3 Recent work includes Theorising Diaspora:A Reader,ed. byJanaEvans Braziel and Anita Manur (Maiden, MA: Blackwell, 2003) and Robin Cohen, Global Diasporas:An Introduction (London: UCL Press,1997). For thelatestoverviewoftheoretical constructs and intersections pertainingto diaspora,see the edited volume Diasporas:Concepts, Identities, Intersections, ed. by Kim Knottand Sean McLoughlin (forthcoming 2010). 4 See for example, Michael Clyne, Dynamicsof LanguageContact:Englishand Immigrant Languages(Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress,2003); Tlie SouthAsian Diaspora: Transnational Networks and Changing Identities, ed. by Rajesh Rai and PeterReeves (Oxford: Taylor & Francis,2008). 5 Alreadypublished are:José Carlos Pina Almeida, 'Citizens of the World: Migration and Citizenship of the Portuguese in the UK', Portuguese Studies,23, 2 (2007), 208-29; Jaine Beswick, 'The PortugueseDiaspora in Jersey',in Tlie Consequences ofMobility: Linguistic and Sociocultural ContactZones,ed. by Bent Preisler, Anne Fabricius,Harmut Haberland, Susanne Kjaerbeck and Karen Risager (Roskilde, Denmark: Roskilde UniversityPress,2005), online at: [accessed 30 November 2009]; Martin Eaton, 'From Porto to Portadown: Portuguese Workersin NorthernIreland'sLabour Market', Portuguese Journal ofSocialScience, 6, 3 (2008). 6 Two exceptions fromacademia are: Guida Abreu, Teresa Silva and Hannah Lambert, Portuguese Childrenin BritishSchools:Englandand the Channelhlands (Luton: Universityof Luton, Department...