Diaspora

The term ‘Diaspora’ is a recent practice in the popular, academic, and official language , where it refers to the dispersal of a larg...

The term ‘Diaspora’ is a recent practice in the popular, academic, and official language, where it refers to the dispersal of a large group of people with a similar heritage or homeland, to different places all over the world from their origins as refugees, slaves, and so on.

The term has a Greek origin and refers, allegorically, to the scattering of seeds as they are sowed over a wide area; hence, dia- over, speiro- to sow. It is widely believed that the term first appeared in Greek translation of the book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament, with reference to the situation of the Jewish people. Thence the term Diaspora had been defined as “the dispersion of the Jews among the Gentile nations” and as “all those Jews who live outside the biblical land of Israel” by the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, with these definitions another definition was added which refers to the “situation of people living outside their traditional homeland”. Safran’s (Safran 1991:83-4) six point models that lay down the features of the Diaspora include the followings:

• Dispersal from the original homeland
• Retention of collective memory
• Vision or myth of the original homeland
• Partial (never complete) assimilation in host society
• Idealized wish to return to original homeland
• Desirable commitment to restoration of homeland and
• Continuous renewal of linkages with homeland

There is a vast number of scholars offering a wide range of qualifying definitions for the term Diaspora, among these scholars some offer inclusivity definitions that contains “ immigrant, expatriate, refugee, guest workers, exile community, overseas community and ethnic community in the semantic domain of Diaspora” (Tololian 1991:4-5), while others gave a minimized working definition as “dispersal from original homeland to two or more places; movement between the homeland and the new host; and social, cultural or economic exchange between or among the Diaspora community” (Van Hear 1998:6).

From the sections discussed so far, we can deduce that communities of people who live outside their shared country of origin or ancestry maintain active connections with it. Diaspora includes both emigrants and their descendants. While some people lose their attachment to their ancestral homeland, others maintain a strong connection to a place which their ancestors may have left generations ago.

Many Diasporic collectives are coming together to work to attain greater impact and a stronger voice in affairs that are related to their homeland. Diasporic communities’ contributions are frequently unrecognized which are vital for the progress of their homeland’s heritage and culture also its country’s socio-economic issues. They share goals with governments, businesses, and NGOs, including:

• Broad-based economic growth;
• Thriving civil society;
• Widespread participation in good governance;
• Access to global markets for skills and financial capital;
• Robust trading partnerships;
• Growing participation in science, technology and communication innovations.

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Know more about related topics Brain Gain, Brain Drain in Indian Context, Brain Drain, Brain Exchange, Brain Waste,  Brain Gain in Indian Context, Brain Circulation, Indian Diaspora, New Indian Diaspora, Old Indian Diaspora

Reference:

• IGNOU (Indira Gandhi National Open University), MSOE-002 Diaspora and Transnational Communities. 
• What is a Diaspora? International Diaspora Engagement Alliance - http://www.diasporaalliance.org/what-is-a-diaspora/ (25.01.2017/12:26)
• https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/diaspora (25.01.2017/12:28)

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Related Questions:

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