Circassian Encounters: The Self as Other and the Production of the Homeland in the North Caucasus

Abstract

Diasporas are an increasingly important phenomenon in the ‘era of globalization’. Transnational networks structure and restructure economic exchanges, familial bonds, cultural identities and political mobilization. This article examines one such diaspora, which traces its origin to the North Caucasus, the Circassians. The break‐up of the Soviet Union has enabled some people to journey back to their ‘homeland’ and even take up residence there once again. Through such journeys and the encounters that accompany them, notions of identity, history, culture and tradition are challenged. This has the dual effect of fragmenting ethnic identity while simultaneously transforming the ‘homeland’ from an abstract concept to an everyday reality. The ensuing interplay between nation and diaspora is translated by different individuals in different ways. Three narratives of journeys to the homeland are presented here, showing the complex motivations and consequences of such journeys. Ethnographies of globalization thus reveal that concepts of ‘ethnicity’, ‘nationalism’ and ‘ethnonationalism’ have to be rethought in the context of shifting borders, transnational encounters and the production of diasporas.

Diaspora of Diaspora: Adyge-Abkhaz Returnees in the Ancestral Homeland

“…Although there are other definitions of diaspora, including non-dispersed groups, such as ethnic communities living in adjacent states, and non-victim groups, such as trade diasporas, as a "descriptive typological tool" the definitions of classical and victim diasporas suggested by Cohen and Safran are frequently used to refer to the Adyge and Abkhaz living outside their homeland. Many researchers working on the Adyge and Abkhaz diaspora (also sometimes known as the Circassian or Cherkess diaspora, as explained in note 2) agree with this definition of a classical or victim diaspora (Bram 1999;Kaya 2004Kaya , 2005Shami 1995Shami , 1998Vardania 2007). This article considers that there is variety both within the diaspora and in the ways in which communities conceive their homeland; as a result of their different ideas, various components and members of the diaspora act differently (Pattie 2005, 49).…”

“…The host countries where the Adyge and Abkhaz resided also became more liberal, giving rise to more cultural freedom. Due to these changes, the last generation of the diaspora grew up in an environment of ethnocultural revival and had a clearer understanding of the political dynamics, territorial divisions, demographic situation, and sociocultural values in the Caucasus (see Doğan 2009;Kaya 2004;Shami 1995Shami , 1998. It was also during these last decades that many people started to visit their homeland; some, with considerate personal effort, return-migrated.…”

The Circassian Diaspora In and Outside Turkey

“…They are still active in Turkey. They perceive themselves as leftists, although their program has been essentially Circassian-nationalist (Shami 1998). A number of them actually did go back to the Caucasus after 1989; of those, some stayed, while others returned to Turkey in response to cultural, structural, and legal constraints.…”

“…In the relatively more democratic political and legal context of the 1990s, Circassians established many different associations, most of them mobilized around the idea of an eventual return to the homeland. Many members of the ethnic elite emphasized that their ancestors had been expelled from their homeland and had been tools in the political machinations of the Russian and Ottoman empires; they concluded that a return to the homeland would be inevitable (Shami 1998).…”

Contemporary Indonesian Film; Spirits of Reform and ghosts from the past

“…6 Appadurai 1996Garnham 1993;Gillwald 1993;Shohat 2003;Sen 2003. space and form for the imagination of communities. 7 Nevertheless, notwithstanding a globalizing world, the state is still important in shaping political realities (Baumann 1996;Duara 1999Duara , 2008Shami 1999). Moreover, the state can be important in defining the shape of cinema.…”