Judith Misrahi-Barak and Claudine Raynaud, eds. Diasporas, Cultures of Mobilities, 'Race': 1. Diasporas and Cultures of Migrations. Montpellier: Presses Universitaires de la Mediterranee, 2014. Pp. 376. NZ$33/$30CAD. Since late 1980s, term has gained widespread currency: Rogers Brubaker reported in 2005 that Google search for word yielded million hits, most of which were not academic (1). Its use and meaning have become slippery (Misrahi-Barak and Raynaud 12). Initially restricted to refer to migration of specific groups around Mediterranean, it is now a privileged term ... used broadly to denote number of different kinds of ... situations of mobility (Edwards 81). In their introduction to Diasporas, Cultures of Mobilities, 'Race': 1. Diasporas and Cultures of Migrations, editors Judith Misrahi-Barak and Claudine Raynaud quote Khachig Tololyan in stating that study investigates the history, culture, social structure, politics, and economics of traditional diasporas and new transnational dispersions (13). Misrahi-Barak and Raynaud agree that studies is firmly grounded on interdisciplinarity (11). The essays in Diasporas, Cultures of Mobilities, 'Race,' however, tend to cluster primarily around cultural responses to transnational dispersals. Almost all of sixteen contributors declare literary/ cultural studies affiliations. The two exceptions are Louise Cainkar (a sociologist) and Lars Hinrichs (a sociolinguist). The editors explain volume's disciplinary inclination: It is truism to affirm that literary text displays not only mirror of contemporary world, but also elements for an understanding of consciousness and elusive 'identity' of diasporic subject. At its best, re-presentations also contain epistemological resources. Where social sciences supply analyses and figures, fiction, poetry, art work, in short cultural productions, may even anticipate insights delivered by objective data. (Misrahi-Barak and Raynaud 15-16) Some discursive/disciplinary clustering must surely be inescapable in collection of this sort: because studies comprehends catholic field, only an encyclopaedia could adequately address diverse concerns of scholars. The book's restricted scope is thus unsurprising; it is also strength, allowing for fuller coverage of circumscribed area. Readers whose interest in studies is linked to aesthetic and literary representations (Misrahi-Barak and Raynaud 18) will find much of value. However, scholars whose research in studies is aligned with fields like political science, international relations, public policy, economics, law, sociology, geography, ecocriticism, and anthropology are likely to find fewer rewards. The book is divided into four parts. The four essays in Part One map different theoretical borders, territories and taxonomies associated with diaspora (Misrahi-Barak and Raynaud 19). It is in this section of volume that researchers in social sciences and related subject areas are likely to find fertile material. Francoise Lionnet challenges conventional notions of cosmopolitanism as surplus and creolisation as deficit, bringing them into dialogue in relation to Creole Indian Ocean (32). Ashraf Rushdy, in thought-provoking essay, uses example of African (a term which he suggests refuses essentialism, racial or other, and insists on difference) to examine two discourses employed to understand social relations in wake of rupture: diasporic and political apology. Shu-mei Shih critiques category of the Chinese diaspora (76), which she argues is complicit with Chinas nationalist calling to 'overseas Chinese' and unwittingly correlates with and reinforces Western and other non-Western ... racialized construction of Chineseness as perpetually foreign (79). …