The demobilization of diaspora: history, memory and ‘latent identity’

Redclift, Victoria

doi:10.1111/glob.12150

Cited by 19 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 33 publications

(25 reference statements)

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“…The research focussed on the experience of Bangladesh-origin Muslims in three urban settings -Tower Hamlets in London, Luton in Bedfordshire, and Aston in Birmingham. Research on transnationalism has often been polarized between the country of origin and of settlement (Redclift 2017), when a translocal dimension, such as a town or city of residence, may be more important in people's everyday lives (Vathi 2013). Moreover, urban localities are increasingly considered the best spatial units to illustrate the contrast between transnational and translocal dynamics (Sassen 2000).…”

Section: Field Sites and Methodological Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

The hostile environment, Brexit, and ‘reactive‐’ or ‘protective transnationalism’

Redclift

Rajina

2019

Global Networks

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The ‘reactive transnationalism hypothesis’ posits a relationship between discrimination and transnational practice. The concept has generally been studied using quantitative methods, but a qualitative approach augments our understanding of two context‐specific dimensions: the nature of the discrimination involved, and the types of transnational behaviour that might be affected. Drawing on in‐depth interviews with Bangladesh‐origin Muslims in London, Luton and Birmingham, in the UK, we demonstrate how anti‐Asian and anti‐Muslim racism have been conflated with intensified anti‐migrant racism in the context of ‘hostile environment’ immigration policies and the EU referendum (Brexit), producing an amplification of racist discourses associated with purging the body politic of its non‐white bodies. The insecurity generated is altering some people's relationships to Bangladesh, incentivizing investment in land and property ‘back home'. While this represents an example of ‘reactive transnationalism', we argue that ‘protective transnationalism’ might be a more appropriate way of describing the processes at work.

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Section: Field Sites and Methodological Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

The hostile environment, Brexit, and ‘reactive‐’ or ‘protective transnationalism’

Redclift

Rajina

2019

Global Networks

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“…For the Armenian diaspora, the genocide of 1915 is widely recognized as the defining and foundational narrative (Kasbarian 2018;Laycock 2016) that explains its coming into being, as well as its trajectory in time and space. And yet, remembrance of the chosen trauma is a past of an "ahistorical kind" (Redclift 2017) as it becomes reworked for the present and can gain new meanings (Soysal 2000). Macdonald (2013) aptly describes this as "past presencing," or how the past is present or is made present through experience, representation, performance, and imagining.…”

Section: Diaspora Identity Past Traumas and Generational Changementioning

confidence: 99%

“…"Past presencing" can also be observed in diaspora consolidation in a host state, as well as in its mobilization toward the homeland. Mavroudi (2018) defines diaspora mobilization as helping the homeland in material ways (for example, through activism or acts of charity); however, multiple layers of diaspora identity and mobilization need to be recognized (Redclift 2017). Diaspora mobilization is often connected to narratives of (in)security and crises in the homeland; although not all such crises automatically lead to diaspora mobilization, which is often hampered by uncertainty over how to mobilize and issues of trust and corruption in the homeland (Koinova 2018;Mavroudi 2018).…”

Section: Diaspora Identity Past Traumas and Generational Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Diaspora Identity and a New Generation: Armenian Diaspora Youth on the Genocide and the Karabakh War

Chernobrov

Wilmers

2019

Nationalities Papers

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In this article, we explore the role of the early 20th-century Armenian genocide and the unresolved Karabakh conflict of the 1990s in identity shaping among the new generation of Armenian diaspora—those who grew up after the establishment of the independent Armenian state in 1991. We draw on original interviews with diasporic youth in France, the United Kingdom, and Russia—diasporas that were largely built in the aftermath of the genocide and the Karabakh war. Diaspora youth relate to these events through transmitted collective memories, but also reconnect with the distant homeland’s past and present in new ways as they engage with new possibilities of transnational digital communication and mobility. Their experiences of identity shed light on how the new generation of diasporic Armenians defines itself in relation to the past; how this past is (re)made present in their interpretations of the Karabakh conflict and in everyday behaviors; and how diasporic youth experience the dilemmas of “moving on” from traumatic narratives that for a long time have been seen as foundational to their identity.

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“…The political situation in the home country can lead diaspora members to demobilise as a community. Redclift (2017) illustrates this using the case of Indian Pakistanis in the UK and the US who distance themselves from Bangladesh, from where their families emigrated, because of the marginalisation and deprivation suffered by their community there since the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. Likewise, Mavroudi (2018) finds that that concerns about local corruption are a factor in the ambivalence of Palestinians and Greeks in diaspora towards supporting their homeland during times of crisis.…”

Section: Political Self-distancingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growing up with a long-awaited nation-state: Personal struggles with the homeland among young diasporic Armenians

Wilmers

Chernobrov

2019

Ethnicities

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This paper explores identification with the nation-state as homeland among young diasporic Armenians in France, Russia and the United Kingdom (UK). For dispersed Armenian communities worldwide, the emergence of a fragile nation-state since 1991 has represented a form of collective goal fulfilment accompanied at times by disillusionment in the national myth of the homeland as a place of sanctuary. We argue that the resulting shift in understandings of homeland markedly differentiates the diasporic experiences of Armenians of diverse backgrounds growing up in the post-independence era from those of previous generations. Key to this shift are ambivalent dynamics between memory and myth integral to personal struggles with the homeland. Analysing original interviews with Armenians aged 18 to 35 in three host states, we unpack how memories of contact with the Armenian state accumulated in youth interact with national myths about the homeland in the context of different family migration histories. The active engagement of young people with homeland myths is shown to play an important role in their recollections of first formative visits to Armenia. Through more regular contact with the state, disappointment in elements of politics and culture that clash with personal imaginings of the homeland can lead to ambivalence in identifying with Armenia. Ultimately, the state plays a key orienting role for many young diasporic Armenians, but clashes between recalled encounters and myths concerning the state can render it a place of partial belonging, unable to fulfil the ideals of the diasporic imagination. The findings highlight the value of attending to interaction between memory and myth in diasporic engagement with ‘homeland’ states more broadly.

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The demobilization of diaspora: history, memory and ‘latent identity’

Cited by 19 publications

References 33 publications

The hostile environment, Brexit, and ‘reactive‐’ or ‘protective transnationalism’

The hostile environment, Brexit, and ‘reactive‐’ or ‘protective transnationalism’

Diaspora Identity and a New Generation: Armenian Diaspora Youth on the Genocide and the Karabakh War

Growing up with a long-awaited nation-state: Personal struggles with the homeland among young diasporic Armenians

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