Victim Diaspora Research Articles

The Reterritorialisation of Pontic Greeks in Germany and the Modernisation of Tradition

Greeks have a long diasporic history that demonstrates significant examples of all major diaspora classifications. Pontic Greeks of the Black Sea in particular, represent an excellent example of non-static diasporic typology. Starting as an imperial diaspora they were transformed to a victim diaspora, when forcefully expelled from their native lands in north-eastern Anatolia, seeking refuge in Greece and in areas of central Asia that were later annexed by the Soviet Union. Greece’s socioeconomic environment, during the better part of the twentieth century, was proven insufficient to support the full integration of refugees, while those Pontic Greeks who found themselves behind the Iron Curtain, were subjected to further victimization. In 1960 Greece signed a bilateral agreement with West Germany, allowing its citizens to seek Gastarbeiter employment, resulting in the formation of a Greek labour diaspora in the country, of which an estimated one third self-identifies as culturally Pontic. After Greece’s induction in the European Communities, but especially in the post-Maastricht era, the migratory regime for Greeks in Germany changed to that of European-expatriation, therefore progressively transforming their labour diaspora to a cultural one. From imperial, to victim, to labour, to cultural, Pontic Diaspora underwent a long process of reterritorialisation, in their journey from Anatolia to Germany.

Italian Diasporic Studies: The Then and Now

Italian Diasporic Studies: The Then and Now

When Perpetrators and Victims Meet Again

This article examines Germany’s exercise of universal criminal jurisdiction (UCJ) from a hospitality perspective. It derives this perspective from recent theoretical writings, in particular Frédéric Mégret’s work on the role of victim diasporas in UCJ proceedings. Mégret argues that states exercising UCJ respond to a duty of hospitality towards those who have suffered abroad but are now on the territory of a new state. While presenting a convincing theoretical case, this perspective requires verification in the practice of states that actually exercise UCJ. This article therefore considers to what extent the recent surge of UCJ cases in Germany is linked to the presence of a victim diaspora on its territory. In addition, it assesses whether German legal and public discourse also assumes a duty of hospitality towards those victim diasporas or whether it rests the exercise of UCJ on more traditional approaches.

Interview 4

I agree with the expansion of the application of the term beyond "victim diasporas." The initial concept was applied in ancient Greece more neutrally to geographic dispersals of groups. There is a sociological problem of making the concept too wide, but I am generally in favour of inclusivity.

Complicating ‘Victimhood’ In Diaspora Studies: The Saga of Tamils In Exile

As an interdisciplinary field, Diaspora Studies has drawn from many disciplines, including sociology, especially from its debates on migration, structure and agency. This lecture draws on my ethnographic fieldwork on the Sri Lankan Tamils in Germany. It analyses their transition following the civil war in Sri Lanka, from being refugee immigrants to becoming a successful diaspora, well integrated economically, yet holding a powerful identity as Tamil nationalists. Fuelled by political commitment and digital connectivity, their innovative strategies as a diaspora have contributed to the propagation of the Tamil cause. Their example extends and complicates the classic notion of ‘victim diaspora’, demonstrating the simultaneity of victimhood and agency.

New Online Communities and New Identity Making: The Curious Case of the Kurdish Diaspora

The central argument in this paper is that the intimately set of processes—diaspora, transnationalism, and communication technologies—are creating new maps of identities, which are diverging from traditional forms of identity-making within the physical and national territory. By delving into how this triangulated relationship brings out a series of new identity experiences, the aim here is to demonstrate how this can serve as a timely example in a wider context of how traditional spheres of identity (i.e. ethnicity, culture, gender, and religion), which have hitherto provided people with firm identities, are being contested in this age of digital technologies and new transnational and global collaborations. Based on an interdisciplinary and comparative research study, including multi-sited (online-offline) methodology, the empirical examples unveil how diasporic Kurds have through their online activities developed transnational and global consciousness that goes beyond the national or dual diasporic consciousness. They display a growing awareness of identity difference not only between diaspora and homeland Kurds, but also between Kurdish diasporas in various European countries. While the struggle for nation-state building and identity rights are still a central part of their agenda, the new opportunities for self-representation in the online world suggest novel articulations of identity which are challenging old notions of belonging and community. Therefore, rather than speaking of the inflationary “imagined diaspora,” this paper presents the fluidity of diasporic identities and how victim diaspora can morph into transnational and global diaspora. The acknowledgement of identity difference and the de-mythologization of the homeland complicates the concept of the imagined community which until now has not been sufficiently recognized in academic writing.

Diasporic identifications: exile, nostalgia and the Famine past in Irish and Irish North-American popular fiction, 1871–1891

During the nineteenth century, “exile” became a key term to describe the Irish-diasporic community in North America. More recently, scholars in the fields of diaspora studies and Irish studies have described this community as a “victim diaspora” with connotations of forced expulsion, exile, and nostalgia for the homeland. Moreover, among scholars and within the Irish-American community, the notion exists that the Great Irish Famine (1845–1851) constitutes the Irish-American “charter myth”, that it was the starting point of an Irish-American identity. This article sheds a different light on these (self-)identifications by discussing the concepts of origin myth, exile and nostalgia and also considers the concept of diasporic belonging in the context of Irish and Irish North-American works of popular “Famine fiction” written between 1871 and 1891. Consequently, the impact of these late nineteenth-century literary considerations on present-day conceptualisations of the Irish-American community as a victim diaspora are discussed.

The Vietnamese in Australia: diaspora identity, intra-group tensions, transnational ties and ‘victim’ status

ABSTRACTThis paper examines how class, gender, generation and regional background impact on the development of diaspora and community identity as well as ties to homeland among Vietnamese migrants in Australia. Drawing on the empirical findings of a research project conducted in three Australian cities, we assess the character of the Vietnamese diaspora in Australia by critically applying Cohen’s (2008. Global Diasporas. London: Taylor and Francis) typology with a particular focus on what it means to be defined as a victim or refugee diaspora. The paper focuses on the intra-group differences in origins, socio-demographic characteristics, migration experience, gender and generation that characterise this group, highlighting the impact of recent arrivals on the established community. The latter are relatively well educated and actively connected to modern Vietnam through vibrant transnational linkages. These characteristics tend to create tensions with members of the established community who, in class terms, have struggled to thrive, are relatively cut off from the homeland and are united in their hostility towards the homeland government.

The Vietnamese diaspora in Australia: identity and transnational behaviour

This paper provides a critical overview of the Vietnamese diaspora in Australia, analyses its origins, socio-demographic characteristics and generational tides. It analyses the ways in which the nature of Vietnamese diaspora in Australia has impacted on their connections with the homeland. The paper presents the empirical findings of a research project conducted in three Australian cities. This paper assesses the nature of the Vietnamese diaspora in Australia critically applying Cohen’s [(2008). Global Diasporas. London: Taylor & Francis] typology of a refugee diaspora and analyses the extent of ties to the homeland in several domains of the diaspora-homeland relations. It analyses the impact of generally being perceived as a victim or refugee diaspora on ties with homeland. The discussion highlights key trends and characteristics in relation to diaspora-homeland ties, including the impact of being perceived as a victim/refugee diaspora on ties with homeland and the determinants on ties to the homeland, including age and place of birth.

The ‘elephant in the room’ in debates about universal jurisdiction: diasporas, duties of hospitality, and the constitution of the political

Universal jurisdiction is typically understood by reference to the interstate world: for example, as a cosmopolitan institution transcending the limitations of sovereignty. This article highlights instead the concrete role of victim diasporas in bringing claims under universal jurisdiction. Transnational criminal law as a paradigm can also help one understand how the transnational movement of persons is shaping the prosecution of those responsible for atrocities. In addition to being a better descriptive theory of universal jurisdiction, transnationalism has the potential to provide a better normative theory. This article focuses on the extent to which the provision of universal jurisdiction can be understood as fulfilling a duty of hospitality towards those who have suffered harm abroad but are now on the territory of a new state. Universal jurisdiction is part of the constitution of political bonds in migrant societies and should be understood as a manifestation of forms of rooted cosmopolitanism.

Famine, home, and transatlantic politics in two late nineteenth-century Irish-American novels

This article analyzes the continuing tensions and influences between political and nationalist self-representations of the Irish in the USA and the Irish in Ireland in James Doran's Zanthon and John Brennan's Erin Mor. As this essay shows, the ostensibly Irish (nationalist) ideologies of these texts are fundamentally transatlantic by nature. They are projected as an interface between Irish nationalism, current American affairs and politics, and British imperial ideology. As such, these texts construct a liminal discourse of transatlantic Irish nationalism, creating an intermediary discursive space between host country, home, and Empire. Instead of merely describing the Irish diaspora as a community of exiles or a victim diaspora, these works of fiction show that through the infusion or appropriation of North American ideals, the Irish nation could be (re)forged, at home or abroad. Moreover, on a more thematic level, both Doran and Brennan's political philosophies interact with political ideologies of the late 1880s and early 1890s, elaborating their own takes on the interrelations between the rhetoric of liberty and economic policy central to the political debate in the USA during the latter part of the nineteenth century. With their double message for both the USA and Ireland, these texts thus forge a genuinely transatlantic Irish transnationalism.

One state, plural options: Kurds in the UK

After three decades of living in their new home, Kurds in the UK have progressed from being a ‘victim diaspora’ into becoming more organised, and capable of meeting the diverse needs of their community. Most UK-based Kurds refuse to use the official legal system to settle their disputes, at least initially. Instead, they prefer to resolve their disputes within the community, and for this purpose, they have recreated their own hybridised customary justice system, consisting of the Kurdish Peace Committee (KPC). This more organised system is a first for Kurds, and is involved in the settlement of cases as diverse as family disputes and minor criminal cases. This article examines how and why this community prefers to solve their disputes themselves instead of approaching the police or courts. This work also includes a discussion of Kurdish society, including its historical pluralistic experience, reasons for its members’ emigration from Turkey and their ethnic reconstruction in the UK. A selection of case studies are used to illustrate how this body has helped to resolve some disputes, to develop Kurdish customs and traditions under different circumstances, and to act as a bridge between the official legal system of the British society and Kurdish values and norms.

An examination of the mental health of Irish migrants to England using a concept of Diaspora

This paper asks if Diaspora is an intellectually overloaded term or if, alternatively, it augments existing understandings of migrant’s experiences when individuals are adrift from their homeland. Fundamentally, Diaspora is a concept that transcends the nation-state as the primary unit of analysis of migration movements and developments. Although some migrations are voluntary, most are not: thus, this paper addresses involuntary migrations, this emphasis drawing support from Cohen’s Global Diasporas (2008) which employs an elastic method but with ‘victim diasporas’ taking precedence: by victim diasporas, Cohen means Jews, Africans, Armenians and Irish. This paper, of course, explicates matters in respect of ‘the Irish’, the second largest dispersed group in history.

Multiple Homes and Parallel Civil Societies: Refugee Diasporas and Transnationalism

Asylum and refugees have been key players in the making of and transnational communities. The human rights approach to and refugees which appeared to be the hall mark of western states during the cold war era has disappeared. This disappearance has been clearly marked particularly in the aftermath of 9/11. Asylum is now increasingly perceived through the lens of migration and security issues. A pervasive security oriented discourse advances the sacrifice of fundamental rights and freedoms not only for local populations but very systematically and effectively for refugees, and other migrants. Border controls, confinement and encampment of refugees, interdiction policies, destitution as a threat to seekers and deportation are all mechanisms by which North America and Fortress Europe, steadfastly attempt to prevent refugees and from reaching their shores. These special issues of Refuge, the current one and the following one, dealing with and transnationalism, are being published in this context. (1) Transnationalism as a phenomenon incorporates the economic, cultural and political practices of migrants, including refugees, who traverse several borders. The terms and transnational have simultaneously become metaphors and categories that include various communities of displaced people, circulating migrants and people in limbo. While theorizing has a longer history, the of the study of from history to area studies, cultural and literary studies and geography is relatively new. The conflation of studies in and transnationalism in the past decade has a symbolic representation in the title of a journal: Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies. While this conflation opens up new and challenging areas for research enquiry, it also creates some conceptual confusion and at times, uncritical interchangeability of and the transnational in a simplified manner. The proliferation of diasporic categories such as labour diaspora, asylum diaspora, victim diaspora, feminist diaspora, military diaspora and refugee diasporas underscores a crucial element in the nature of the diaspora: ambiguity. However, we need to be cautious in not eliminating the historical specificity of these diasporas. While there is certainly a convergence between and transnational communities, it is critically important to maintain a conceptual and analytical distinction between them. The term has historically been used to describe the experience of forced displacement and to analyze the social, cultural and political formations that result from this forced displacement. Transnational communities can be generally defined as communities living or belonging to more than one national space. The condition of forced migration is not necessarily a component of transnational communities. However, the distinction between and transnational is not always clear in social science literature. While some scholars have argued in favor of identifying a closed set of attributes and have been only minimally concerned with the actual conditions of diasporic existence, (2) others have preferred to use the term in the broader sense of human dispersal. (3) The traditional naming and meaning of can be expanded to include several communities that express new identities and cultural practices as the result of displacement, hybridity and transnationality and mediated through economic transnationalism in the context of globalization. While recognizing that can eventually evolve into powerful transnational communities, it is sufficient to say that multiple and simultaneous ways of belonging and multiple ways of incorporation in the home and host countries is the one key theme that is common for both. This is the most important theme that animates the dynamics of transnational groups in the contemporary age. …

A Victim Diaspora?: The Case of the Sikhs

A Victim Diaspora?: The Case of the Sikhs

Rethinking ‘Babylon’: Iconoclastic conceptions of the diasporic experience

The word ‘diaspora’ is closely associated with enslavement, exile and loneliness. A people is seen to be scattered as a result of a traumatic historical event. Contrary to this assumption, a closer examination of the provenance of the classical diasporas, Jewish and Greek, reveal a degree of voluntarism in their patterns of out‐migration, or a mix of impelled and colonising migration. Although the idea of a ‘victim diaspora’ can be sustained in the case of the Armenians and Africans, other experiences are more ambiguous or benign. Indeed, diasporas can be seen as galvanising a new creative energy outside the natal homeland. In the modern period the force of excluding nationalisms often generated counter‐nationalist or return movements among diasporic groups. However, the current period of globalisation has enhanced the practical, economic and affective role of diasporas, raising the possibility that they may become alternative or parallel foci of loyalty to the nation‐state.