This article examines two major groups of migrants from the Horn of Africa nation of Eritrea that I call “Generation Nationalism” and “Generation Asylum.” Steeped in different historical and political contexts at home, ranging from the nationalist struggle for independence to the current climate of militarization and state repression, these generations are both distinct from each other and internally cleaved by political affiliation, region of origin, religion, class, and migration experiences en route. Situated across multiple diaspora locations, Eritreans are also interconnected by historically layered global networks. Applying Mannheim’s ([1952] 1997) notion of political generations, and particularly Berg and Eckstein’s adaptation of it to migrant populations, I explore the distinctions between, and internal complexities of, Generation Nationalism and Generation Asylum as they relate to the changing Eritrean context and the transnational social field that binds them to one another and the homeland. I argue that Eritrean migrants of all political generations and groupings are simultaneously influenced by the interfaces among pre-migration and migration experiences and the transnational social field that connects them to one another and to the Eritrean nation-state through space and time, regardless of specific diaspora location.
{"title":"Generation Nationalism and Generation Asylum: Eritrean Migrants, the Global Diaspora, and the Transnational Nation-State","authors":"T. Hepner","doi":"10.1353/dsp.2015.0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/dsp.2015.0004","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines two major groups of migrants from the Horn of Africa nation of Eritrea that I call “Generation Nationalism” and “Generation Asylum.” Steeped in different historical and political contexts at home, ranging from the nationalist struggle for independence to the current climate of militarization and state repression, these generations are both distinct from each other and internally cleaved by political affiliation, region of origin, religion, class, and migration experiences en route. Situated across multiple diaspora locations, Eritreans are also interconnected by historically layered global networks. Applying Mannheim’s ([1952] 1997) notion of political generations, and particularly Berg and Eckstein’s adaptation of it to migrant populations, I explore the distinctions between, and internal complexities of, Generation Nationalism and Generation Asylum as they relate to the changing Eritrean context and the transnational social field that binds them to one another and the homeland. I argue that Eritrean migrants of all political generations and groupings are simultaneously influenced by the interfaces among pre-migration and migration experiences and the transnational social field that connects them to one another and to the Eritrean nation-state through space and time, regardless of specific diaspora location.","PeriodicalId":119873,"journal":{"name":"Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124159369","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article explores the impact of varied migration trajectories and settlement experiences on the ways in which diaspora Croats have engaged with the homeland and with each other. The pre-migration experiences of Croats over the past century, spanning imperial and fascist periods, socialism, the Yugoslav Wars of Succession, and independence, combined with the struggles and challenges of life in Canada, have all but defined the lives of diaspora Croats for generations. This is reflected not only in the particularities of different migration waves, opportunity structures, and other barometers of diaspora adaptation but in the effects of major upheavals and transformations in the “place of origin,” variously defined as empire, nation, republic, region, or domovina (homeland). Disparities among and between different generations of Croats are typically conceived of as political/ideological. This tendency, though driven largely by the tumultuous history of the former Yugoslavia, overlooks the complex dynamics underlying significant social, cultural, and other conflicts and contestations within diaspora Croat communities, many of which were on full display during the Homeland War, a time when the “thousand-year-old dream” of Croatian independence was to unite all Croats globally. The implications of the Croatian case for thinking about generation are found in the constant and, at times, fraught engagements of diaspora Croats with their homeland.
{"title":"Between Two Wars: Generational Responses of Toronto Croats to Homeland Independence","authors":"Daphne Winland","doi":"10.1353/dsp.2015.0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/dsp.2015.0009","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the impact of varied migration trajectories and settlement experiences on the ways in which diaspora Croats have engaged with the homeland and with each other. The pre-migration experiences of Croats over the past century, spanning imperial and fascist periods, socialism, the Yugoslav Wars of Succession, and independence, combined with the struggles and challenges of life in Canada, have all but defined the lives of diaspora Croats for generations. This is reflected not only in the particularities of different migration waves, opportunity structures, and other barometers of diaspora adaptation but in the effects of major upheavals and transformations in the “place of origin,” variously defined as empire, nation, republic, region, or domovina (homeland). Disparities among and between different generations of Croats are typically conceived of as political/ideological. This tendency, though driven largely by the tumultuous history of the former Yugoslavia, overlooks the complex dynamics underlying significant social, cultural, and other conflicts and contestations within diaspora Croat communities, many of which were on full display during the Homeland War, a time when the “thousand-year-old dream” of Croatian independence was to unite all Croats globally. The implications of the Croatian case for thinking about generation are found in the constant and, at times, fraught engagements of diaspora Croats with their homeland.","PeriodicalId":119873,"journal":{"name":"Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127363015","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article provides a comparative historical analysis that looks at two dynamic aspects of the immigration process linked to generation—the socioeconomic mobility paths of the children of immigrants and relations between immigrant parents and their children. The focus is on New York City and on two historical eras: the last great wave of immigration from roughly 1880 to the early 1920s and the contemporary wave from the late 1960s to the present. The historical comparative perspective illuminates how, and to what extent, changing receiving contexts affect aspects of the immigrant experience as they relate to a range of generational dynamics. The comparison of second-generation socioeconomic trajectories in the past and present reveals the various constraints and opportunities in different historical periods, while also bringing out similarities and differences in the two eras. It also makes clear the need to consider the distinctive experiences of age cohorts among the second generation in analyzing socioeconomic mobility. With regard to intergenerational relations, the past–present comparison helps to specify the factors shaping relations between immigrant parents and their US-born children that are distinctive to the present era, and those that seem to be a constant. The concluding section offers additional reflections on generational issues, including the prospect that age cohort differences will be increasingly relevant among immigrants and the second generation in the years to come.
{"title":"Mobility Trajectories and Family Dynamics: History and Generation in the New York Immigrant Experience","authors":"N. Foner","doi":"10.1353/dsp.2015.0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/dsp.2015.0003","url":null,"abstract":"This article provides a comparative historical analysis that looks at two dynamic aspects of the immigration process linked to generation—the socioeconomic mobility paths of the children of immigrants and relations between immigrant parents and their children. The focus is on New York City and on two historical eras: the last great wave of immigration from roughly 1880 to the early 1920s and the contemporary wave from the late 1960s to the present. The historical comparative perspective illuminates how, and to what extent, changing receiving contexts affect aspects of the immigrant experience as they relate to a range of generational dynamics. The comparison of second-generation socioeconomic trajectories in the past and present reveals the various constraints and opportunities in different historical periods, while also bringing out similarities and differences in the two eras. It also makes clear the need to consider the distinctive experiences of age cohorts among the second generation in analyzing socioeconomic mobility. With regard to intergenerational relations, the past–present comparison helps to specify the factors shaping relations between immigrant parents and their US-born children that are distinctive to the present era, and those that seem to be a constant. The concluding section offers additional reflections on generational issues, including the prospect that age cohort differences will be increasingly relevant among immigrants and the second generation in the years to come.","PeriodicalId":119873,"journal":{"name":"Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115657912","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this article I draw on a long history of successive transatlantic “displacements” and “returns” that have shaped and reshaped Liberian diasporan identities. Proposing that diasporicity is above all an identity discourse, the first part of this article documents and compares dramatic differences in that discourse across historical generations while also examining arguments about this form of identity and social differences in subscription to it within specific generations. This history has been one of successive and often mutually contradictory recastings of where “origin” is located, which have been subject to social argumentation. A comparison of these identity discourses across different historical generations suggests the need to investigate diasporicity as more than merely an affirmation of belonging but rather also a powerful critique of exclusion. Finally, I hone in on the variations of diasporicity that have emerged within the Liberian transnational field during a single historical period (the present) to demonstrate how diasporicity as a particular form of identity emerges under—and inherently references—conditions of experiential fragmentation that are largely unforeseen and fundamentally problematic for current analytical concepts of generation. Describing some of the multiple diasporicities within the current Liberian transnational field, I argue that any concept of diasporic generation must be one that empirically ascertains the boundaries of shared historicity rather than assuming that temporal and social boundaries coincide.
{"title":"Diasporicity and Its Discontents: Generation and Fragmented Historicity in the Liberian Transnational Field","authors":"Stephen C. Lubkemann","doi":"10.1353/dsp.2015.0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/dsp.2015.0006","url":null,"abstract":"In this article I draw on a long history of successive transatlantic “displacements” and “returns” that have shaped and reshaped Liberian diasporan identities. Proposing that diasporicity is above all an identity discourse, the first part of this article documents and compares dramatic differences in that discourse across historical generations while also examining arguments about this form of identity and social differences in subscription to it within specific generations. This history has been one of successive and often mutually contradictory recastings of where “origin” is located, which have been subject to social argumentation. A comparison of these identity discourses across different historical generations suggests the need to investigate diasporicity as more than merely an affirmation of belonging but rather also a powerful critique of exclusion. Finally, I hone in on the variations of diasporicity that have emerged within the Liberian transnational field during a single historical period (the present) to demonstrate how diasporicity as a particular form of identity emerges under—and inherently references—conditions of experiential fragmentation that are largely unforeseen and fundamentally problematic for current analytical concepts of generation. Describing some of the multiple diasporicities within the current Liberian transnational field, I argue that any concept of diasporic generation must be one that empirically ascertains the boundaries of shared historicity rather than assuming that temporal and social boundaries coincide.","PeriodicalId":119873,"journal":{"name":"Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130264658","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article examines the causes and consequences of generational formation in the Chinese diaspora in America. Based on a review of the existing literature and a reanalysis of data collected from my prior research on China-born immigrants in the United States, I document the formation of immigrant cohorts in four historical periods of Chinese immigration and illustrate how contexts of emigration and host-society reception intertwine to influence the evolution of immigrant cohorts across time and, in turn, produce variations on patterns of immigrant adaptation, leading to differences in the outcomes of host-society integration and levels of homeland engagement.
{"title":"Changing Generational Dynamics in Chinese America across Time","authors":"Min Zhou","doi":"10.1353/dsp.2015.0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/dsp.2015.0008","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the causes and consequences of generational formation in the Chinese diaspora in America. Based on a review of the existing literature and a reanalysis of data collected from my prior research on China-born immigrants in the United States, I document the formation of immigrant cohorts in four historical periods of Chinese immigration and illustrate how contexts of emigration and host-society reception intertwine to influence the evolution of immigrant cohorts across time and, in turn, produce variations on patterns of immigrant adaptation, leading to differences in the outcomes of host-society integration and levels of homeland engagement.","PeriodicalId":119873,"journal":{"name":"Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123885639","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article examines the differential degrees and methods of adaptation to the host society and engagement with the homeland by successive groups of migrants and their second- and third-generation descendants hailing from the Greek island of Castellorizo and settled in Perth, Western Australia, since the beginning of the twentieth century. It examines how Mannheim’s historically grounded generations are reproduced in subsequent genealogical generations of Perth Castellorizians and how this phenomenon is linked to the current “return” of these generations to the ancestral homeland. The article demonstrates that the behavior and profile of each diasporic generation are linked to distinctive historical experiences, especially traumatic ones that their members shared throughout their lives. “Generational units,” based on shared gender, age, and class, are shown to be instrumental in the maintenance, transformation, and transmission of identity. The article also examines the intersection between ethno-regional and ethno-national identity and shows how regional and national identification shift over time for the members of this diasporic group. Finally, the article demonstrates the importance of the family in the construction of diasporic identities. Perceiving themselves as links in a chain of family bonds, second- and third-generation Castellorizians “return” to the ancestral homeland both symbolically and physically to reclaim and revitalize it through their practices and imaginings.
{"title":"Reclaiming the Homeland: Belonging among Diaspora Generations of Greek Australians from Castellorizo","authors":"Vassiliki Chryssanthopoulou","doi":"10.1353/dsp.2015.0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/dsp.2015.0007","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the differential degrees and methods of adaptation to the host society and engagement with the homeland by successive groups of migrants and their second- and third-generation descendants hailing from the Greek island of Castellorizo and settled in Perth, Western Australia, since the beginning of the twentieth century. It examines how Mannheim’s historically grounded generations are reproduced in subsequent genealogical generations of Perth Castellorizians and how this phenomenon is linked to the current “return” of these generations to the ancestral homeland. The article demonstrates that the behavior and profile of each diasporic generation are linked to distinctive historical experiences, especially traumatic ones that their members shared throughout their lives. “Generational units,” based on shared gender, age, and class, are shown to be instrumental in the maintenance, transformation, and transmission of identity. The article also examines the intersection between ethno-regional and ethno-national identity and shows how regional and national identification shift over time for the members of this diasporic group. Finally, the article demonstrates the importance of the family in the construction of diasporic identities. Perceiving themselves as links in a chain of family bonds, second- and third-generation Castellorizians “return” to the ancestral homeland both symbolically and physically to reclaim and revitalize it through their practices and imaginings.","PeriodicalId":119873,"journal":{"name":"Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134390578","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Focusing on the diasporic characteristics shown by ancestral return migrants, this case study looks at the Abkhaz-Adyge (Circassian) returnees from Turkey to the Caucasus and how they become the “diaspora of the diaspora.” The next generations of diasporans continue to dream of return, and, with recent developments in communication technologies and cheaper transportation, many find ways to realize this dream. There are many different forms of return, but some “return-migrate” and settle in an unfamiliar ancestral home. The relocation creates new experiences as the homeland turns out to be very different from that which they imagined, and the return migration is transformed into a new form of migrant experience that, in fact, produces renewed diasporic characteristics.
{"title":"Diaspora of Diaspora: Adyge-Abkhaz Returnees in the Ancestral Homeland","authors":"Jade Cemre Erciyes","doi":"10.1353/DSP.2008.0022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/DSP.2008.0022","url":null,"abstract":"Focusing on the diasporic characteristics shown by ancestral return migrants, this case study looks at the Abkhaz-Adyge (Circassian) returnees from Turkey to the Caucasus and how they become the “diaspora of the diaspora.” The next generations of diasporans continue to dream of return, and, with recent developments in communication technologies and cheaper transportation, many find ways to realize this dream. There are many different forms of return, but some “return-migrate” and settle in an unfamiliar ancestral home. The relocation creates new experiences as the homeland turns out to be very different from that which they imagined, and the return migration is transformed into a new form of migrant experience that, in fact, produces renewed diasporic characteristics.","PeriodicalId":119873,"journal":{"name":"Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126974131","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article presents empirical evidence from two contemporary diasporas to support the thesis that formal return to the homeland does not necessarily “unmake” diasporas, as some scholars have previously suggested. I argue that, instead, so-called reverse diaspora formation processes take place, with important repercussions for the acculturation of co-ethnic immigrants in their nominal “homelands.” This article focuses on this latter issue, primarily on processes of identity formation and notions of belonging and home, which are particularly meaningful in the context of this diasporic “homecoming.” It draws on the structured comparison of the ethnic Greek and ethnic German diasporas from the former Soviet Union who moved to Greece and Germany after perestroika. Despite their rich and illuminating analogies and overlaps, these two diaspora groups have never been compared and contrasted before. After a brief historical contextualization, complicated processes of identity negotiation and belonging in the putative “historical homelands” are investigated comparatively, lending credence to the idea that “reverse” German and Greek diasporas have developed within (and often in conflict with) contemporary Greek and German societies. The fact that they occur simultaneously in both countries tends to suggest that the concept of reverse diaspora is an important one that needs closer attention from scholars in the future. The article concludes by outlining how we may conceptualize a reverse diaspora, based on existing definitions of diaspora. My research materials consist of in-depth qualitative data collected over the course of six years by means of eighty-one semi-structured interviews in Russian, German, and Greek with migrants and experts in Greece and Germany, embedded in ethno-graphic research and supplemented by statistical data.
{"title":"What Are “Reverse Diasporas” and How Are We to Understand Them?","authors":"Christin Hess","doi":"10.1353/dsp.2008.0020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/dsp.2008.0020","url":null,"abstract":"This article presents empirical evidence from two contemporary diasporas to support the thesis that formal return to the homeland does not necessarily “unmake” diasporas, as some scholars have previously suggested. I argue that, instead, so-called reverse diaspora formation processes take place, with important repercussions for the acculturation of co-ethnic immigrants in their nominal “homelands.” This article focuses on this latter issue, primarily on processes of identity formation and notions of belonging and home, which are particularly meaningful in the context of this diasporic “homecoming.” It draws on the structured comparison of the ethnic Greek and ethnic German diasporas from the former Soviet Union who moved to Greece and Germany after perestroika. Despite their rich and illuminating analogies and overlaps, these two diaspora groups have never been compared and contrasted before. After a brief historical contextualization, complicated processes of identity negotiation and belonging in the putative “historical homelands” are investigated comparatively, lending credence to the idea that “reverse” German and Greek diasporas have developed within (and often in conflict with) contemporary Greek and German societies. The fact that they occur simultaneously in both countries tends to suggest that the concept of reverse diaspora is an important one that needs closer attention from scholars in the future. The article concludes by outlining how we may conceptualize a reverse diaspora, based on existing definitions of diaspora. My research materials consist of in-depth qualitative data collected over the course of six years by means of eighty-one semi-structured interviews in Russian, German, and Greek with migrants and experts in Greece and Germany, embedded in ethno-graphic research and supplemented by statistical data.","PeriodicalId":119873,"journal":{"name":"Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123942569","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article examines the realization of “projects” to return to the country of origin for Chilean migrants who lived in the Swedish diaspora and how they relate to the social context in which these migrants lived as exiles. Drawing on long-term ethnographic research and the analysis of returnees’ narratives, it argues that the return project is not just the undertaking of isolated individuals, manifested in the decision to move, but rather an expression of discourses and practices embedded in the social context of migrants. The implementation of a return project serves as a “programmed act” of the discourses dominating in exile and becomes, with time, a journey back to “roots” that has different connotations depending on the circumstances of return. The study demonstrates that returnees tend to continue to position themselves as part of their diasporic network even after return. It is concluded that the transnational practices of the diaspora maintain social networks even after people have launched their return projects and moved back to their country of origin. The Swedish-Chilean return projects demonstrate how the idea of people’s cultural and territorial roots serves the diasporic networks’ efforts to bridge seemingly disparate social worlds and refigures that social space.
{"title":"From Diaspora with Dreams, Dreaming about Diaspora: Narratives on a Transnational Chilean Community","authors":"E. Olsson","doi":"10.1353/dsp.2008.0023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/dsp.2008.0023","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the realization of “projects” to return to the country of origin for Chilean migrants who lived in the Swedish diaspora and how they relate to the social context in which these migrants lived as exiles. Drawing on long-term ethnographic research and the analysis of returnees’ narratives, it argues that the return project is not just the undertaking of isolated individuals, manifested in the decision to move, but rather an expression of discourses and practices embedded in the social context of migrants. The implementation of a return project serves as a “programmed act” of the discourses dominating in exile and becomes, with time, a journey back to “roots” that has different connotations depending on the circumstances of return. The study demonstrates that returnees tend to continue to position themselves as part of their diasporic network even after return. It is concluded that the transnational practices of the diaspora maintain social networks even after people have launched their return projects and moved back to their country of origin. The Swedish-Chilean return projects demonstrate how the idea of people’s cultural and territorial roots serves the diasporic networks’ efforts to bridge seemingly disparate social worlds and refigures that social space.","PeriodicalId":119873,"journal":{"name":"Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124635569","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The article analyzes the pre-return desires and preparatory steps of the descendants of Portuguese immigrants in Canada who have returned to Portugal. Based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out from June 2008 to May 2011 in Portugal, the study draws from the narratives of twenty returnees, scrutinizing home-country/host-country interactions and negotiations, the maintenance of ancestral homeland contacts, and network building. I analyze how these are sustained via family, community, technology, and return visits. I show that, even though these descendants drew their return aspirations from both close diasporic proximity (in Canada) and faraway locations (in Portugal), the factors that induced a “return” mobility were seldom uniform among the participants. The article thus sets out to discuss the influences and motivations that created feelings of belonging and spiritual proximity to a land, a society, and a lifestyle that, in some cases, were highly valued and often glorified right from an early age within the collective settings of family and diasporic community and, in others, constructed individually at later stages through self-searching mechanisms.
{"title":"“Even If the Only Thing for Me to Do Here Was to Milk Cows”: Portuguese Emigrant Descendant Returnees from Canada Narrate Pre-return Desires and Motivations","authors":"J. Sardinha","doi":"10.1353/dsp.2008.0021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/dsp.2008.0021","url":null,"abstract":"The article analyzes the pre-return desires and preparatory steps of the descendants of Portuguese immigrants in Canada who have returned to Portugal. Based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out from June 2008 to May 2011 in Portugal, the study draws from the narratives of twenty returnees, scrutinizing home-country/host-country interactions and negotiations, the maintenance of ancestral homeland contacts, and network building. I analyze how these are sustained via family, community, technology, and return visits. I show that, even though these descendants drew their return aspirations from both close diasporic proximity (in Canada) and faraway locations (in Portugal), the factors that induced a “return” mobility were seldom uniform among the participants. The article thus sets out to discuss the influences and motivations that created feelings of belonging and spiritual proximity to a land, a society, and a lifestyle that, in some cases, were highly valued and often glorified right from an early age within the collective settings of family and diasporic community and, in others, constructed individually at later stages through self-searching mechanisms.","PeriodicalId":119873,"journal":{"name":"Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116903908","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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