AphroChic Magazine: Issue No. 1

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Reference two millennia, diaspora was used almost exclusively to refer to dispersed Jewish populations throughout history. But by the 20th century other groups had begun using the word as a designator. Armenian writers begin focusing on displacement in their work as early as 1915, while the African Diaspora sees its first mention by the late 1960s. It wasn’t until the early ‘90s that the explosion of communities regarded as diaspora began an expansion of the term. The trend has continued into the 21st century, expanding the application of the term beyond national dispersions to include the many groups that inhabit the concept today. In 2000, listing the number of studied diasporas, Khachig Tololyan, editor of the academic journal Diaspora, counted “three dozen trans-national communities…ethnics, exiles, expatriates, refugees, asylum seekers, labor migrants, queer communities, domestic service workers, executives of trans-national corporations, and trans-national sex workers,” and the list has grown since then. The Question of Movement At the core of every construction of diaspora is the idea of movement. All diaspora communities have their origins in one place and have moved to several others. The question raised by identifying so many disparate groups as diaspora though, is whether all forms of movement should be thought of as the same. The key distinction in this debate is between migration and dispersion. The primary difference between them is simple, but significant: volition. Simply put, the former is something you do, the latter is something that someone else does to you. Dispersion happens in instances where communities are forced to move by forces such as war, mass deportation or, in the case of the African Diaspora, a massive international slave trade. Migration, conversely, is largely a choice. Even in those situations where lack of employment or resources cause movement, they don’t force it in the same way. And while there is unquestionable trauma in being forced into migration because of famine or a weakened economy, it’s a different trauma than that of surviving a war or experiencing the Middle Passage. Translating that distinction to currently considered diaspora groups, we see that differences do become apparent. The earliest groups to be considered diaspora, the Jewish, the Greeks, the Armenians, and the Africans, were all victims of dispersion of one type or another. Later groups, such as that of international sales representatives, or even Detroit lieutenant governor Garlin Gilchrist’s laudable Detroit Diaspora concept, refer to groups that moved of their own volition. Other characteristics common to diaspora constructions, such as a dream of return to the place of dispersion or the recognition of a shared culture between members of the group, may possibly be said to apply, but certainly not in the same ways. If there are dispersed communities that function as diaspora and cannot be suitably defined by any other term, we risk losing sight of the unique features found in those communities by conflating diaspora with other forms of movement and migration. This in turn can lead to misconstrual of the changing dynamics of diaspora communities and a misunderstanding of their needs and goals. aphrochic
Spinning By Firelight–The Boyhood of George Washington Gray, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Yale University Art Gallery In evaluating whether or not certain communities qualify as diaspora, we must consider what’s at stake for them in this categorization, and the extent to which international salesperson, for example, I may be dispersed from my homeland, I may dream of a day of return, I may even have a tense relationship with the hostland. But do I have a sense of recognition with other professionals so dispersed, even from my own homeland, to other host lands? Do we recognize in each other a common struggle or shared diaspora groups. However it is a very different conversation for Armenian or Jewish communities, than it would be for trans-national executives or they function as communities. If I’m an yearnings? Is my dream of return for all of domestic service workers. However, us, or just for myself? At the same time, reevaluating the sense of dejection associated with the loss of the homeland in light of later prosperity is a common theme for current frameworks of diaspora make it difficult to distinguish between them. The Question of Definitions Why does diaspora have to have a issue one
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AphroChic Magazine: Issue No. 1

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