Diaspora Studies最新文献

This paper explores the narratives and counter-narratives of indenture experience in Fiji in the works of Totaram Sanadhya, John Wear Burton, Kenneth Gillion, Brij Lal and Satish Rai. The recruitment of Indian indentured labourers in Fiji began in 1879, much later than in other colonies. Yet the experiences of the labourers in Fiji were not markedly different. The indenture system, or girmit, was considered better than the slave trade, while others regarded it as only a change in name, with regulations to safeguard the colonial interest. The above authors have shown that, from the onset, the recruitment process, the passage from India to Fiji, life on the plantations and the coolie lines, and life after indenture were a duality: either emancipation or victimisation of Indian labourers. This paper highlights the dual nature of the indenture experience in Fiji.

Applying a postcolonial diaspora lens through Homi K. Bhabha’s theory of the ‘third space’ to Bharati Mukherjee’s novel Jasmine (1989), this paper aims to demonstrate how diasporic women negotiate for an identity in their struggle for a better life in the host land. Having ‘no home’ and ‘no host’, Mukherjee’s protagonist, Jasmine, whose life represents that of the postcolonial immigrant woman, finds an identity in the intercultural process, the ‘third space’. A discourse analysis of this novel and current knowledge of diaspora studies are applied to understanding immigrants’ challenges, postcolonial identity and diaspora-related cultural issues. The paper closely examines cultural hybridity, third space and women’s search for identity in these confrontations. It throws light on a widow’s life and how she tries to get away from the restrictions of home and redesign her identity in a third space in the context of feminism, diaspora and culture in a postcolonial and diasporic world.

Expatriate citizens of countries under authoritarian rule have been increasingly engaging in protest against repression in their home countries. Whether such diaspora protests can boost social uprisings inside authoritarian countries, however, is yet to be analysed. I hypothesise that diaspora protests inspire protest against authoritarian rulers inside the home country by reducing political repression or providing the dissidents with a perception of political opportunity. To test this hypothesis, I use Iran as a case study of an authoritarian regime with a sizeable diaspora and notable protest surges in recent decades. Using daily protest data from 1996 to 2018, results show that protests against the Iranian regime by Iranian expatriates were followed by a significant increase in the chance of protest incidence inside Iran. This association is robust to a variety of modelling specifications and independent of the role of transnational organisational links between activists, which has been documented in the literature previously.

Currently, diasporas are perceived as important non-state actors in international relations and essential partners of the country of origin. The article focuses on this topic using the example of Czechia and Slovakia as two small Central European states that once shared a common past and are now independently developing a relationship with their diaspora. The article explores these interactions in the two countries, looking for commonalities, differences and possibilities for future development. To do so, it uses the methods of documentary analysis and comparison. A relationship with the diaspora is vital for both countries, but the level of cooperation still has room for further development. The differences between the two are mainly in the aspects of the relationship between the state and the diaspora. In the case of Czechia, the opportunity for development lies mainly at the administrative and political levels. In comparison, in Slovakia, this space is found mainly at the level of economic cooperation.

Nigeria has a significant body of diasporic nationals. While studies abound on the economic and developmental roles of the diaspora, there is a paucity of research on the sociopolitical mobilisation interfaces of diasporas with their countries of origin. This article contributes to an understanding of the complexities and multiplicities of the roles of the diaspora in their countries of origin, using the case of Nigeria. It also provides alternative interpretations of what forced migration and fake news connote, through the real experiences of diasporic Nigerians. A qualitative study was conducted among sixteen diasporic Nigerians, interviewed in 2021–2022, in the United States of America (USA), Namibia, Australia, South Africa, United Kingdom (UK), Botswana and Republic of Ireland. Primary data was triangulated with autoethnography and secondary data to sufficiently understand the reasons for migration, the constructs of forced migration, roles in national development, the sharing of fake news and sociopolitical mobilisations and protests.

Migrants have played a crucial role in shaping the history of Australian society and its development, particularly after 1975, when Australia formally dismantled its White Australia Policy and welcomed immigrants from around the world. Since then, millions of immigrants from non-English-speaking backgrounds have settled in Australia. This review aims to critically discuss the main challenges that many of these immigrants face as part of their integration process in Australia. For this research, various large and relevant databases were considered and searched. And by applying ‘inclusion and exclusion criteria’, fifty-six major articles published between 1975 to 2021 were selected for critical review and analysis. The findings of this research indicate that, while there have been changes to streamline the process of integration and improve services, five clusters of major challenges have confronted immigrants since 1975: the labour market, racism and discrimination, the language barrier, social connections and housing and accommodation.