Diaspora as Translation and Decolonisation

Abstract

In Diaspora as Translation and Decolonisation , Ipek Demir provides an important intellectual horizon for theorizing diaspora by centering longer temporal and spatial practices in racial hierarchies. By centering processes of translation and decolonization in diasporic communities, Demir demands an extended engagement with history and power through critical interrogations of Western imperialism and Western colonialism, alongside post-colonialism and local forms of colonialism. She projects a vision of diaspora that is not limited and contained by the dominant strain of thought that theo-rizes diaspora and diasporic social formations through the “nation” and “nation-state.” This work contributes to studies of diaspora by examining how diasporic formations have always been sites of both coloniality and decoloniality as well as imperialism and de-imperialism.