session #4 - diasporas and transnational diasporas Flashcards
the narrative of the nation-state vs migration
migration challenges the narrative of the nation-state
- receiving migrants: question who/if to accept
- leaving migrants: are they coming back? why are they leaving?
peak immigration (US)?
relatively speaking, in the past more immigration than now
diaspora to official population ratio
percentage of a population that lives outside of the state
(e.g. Armenia 183.2%)
Jewish diaspora 1st-2nd centuries AD
concept of diaspora stems from Greek translation of the Bible
experience of exile from the original land (of the Jewish people)
events: destruction of Jewish temples -> Jews start to move
people become dispersed around the whole world, whilst keeping a religion and other cultural aspects, that guarantee the maintenance of an identity
The Black Atlantic (1500-1900)
claim to be a form of diaspora, similar to the Jewish diaspora
- part of the same people, exist outside of the state as a community
Black Atlantic: slavery -> diaspora of Africans
everybody a diaspora?
a large set of peoples is claiming to be a diaspora
- Armenian
- Kurdish
- Croatian
- Greek
it is no longer about nation, it can also be a diaspora of football players, high school
it becomes a label of the experience of dispersion and maintenance of a specific form of identity
diaspora meanings
The process of dispersion or spread of any people from their original homeland
A social group formed as a result of the dispersion from an original homeland that maintains ties across borders
*There are more definition, Ragazzi prefers this one: looks at 2 main interests (exclusion from homeland + common identity)
Diasporic triangle
- home state
- host state
- diasporic groups
these are the diasporic actors
diasporas as challengers of the nation-state
different approaches
diasporas as resources of the nation-state
different approaches
challenges:
1. shoveling out the paupers: Ireland
2. Populating the nation-state: the Zionist project
3. Emigration as danger: the Lybian example
resources:
- guest workers programs: Turkey and Mexico
- war and peace: diasporas and the war in Yugoslavia
- diasporas and global nation-states
shoveling out the paupers: ex. Ireland
- a liberal political economy & Malthusianism
- policies of desired emigration
- a territorial understanding of state policies
shoveling out the poor people
common in the 19th century
Irish diaspora in England/Britain
Irish were facing famine, dire economic posibilities -> left to America -> British let them leave: it’s good, in this way they got rid of the poor people
Malthusianism
the view that without moral restraint the population will increase at a greater rate than its means of subsistence
Malthus believed that the best way to manage a growing population was to get rid of it, because resources would run out at some point
this view of economic policy was once dominant
Populating the nation-state: ex. the Zionist project
welfare guaranteed by a growing population: more people is more for the common good
population as model for growth, bringing back diasporas to a state
- nationalist and socialist ideologies (socialist in the way of bringing people together etc.)
- policies of inwards migration
- the nation-state as the model
*opposite of the shoveling out the paupers approach
Jewish people: want a state where all Jews can migrate towards -> every Jew can easily get into Israel: everyone can and should come back
objective of Israel: disappearance of diaspora
operation Solomon 1991
operation to bring back Ethiopian Jews
36h non-stop flights bringing Ethiopian Jews to Israel, as they were facing genocide in Ethiopia
emigration as danger: the Balkans example
- context of authoritarian states
- exporting the right to kill (kill opponents in other countries, this clashes with the idea that they have the right to kill on their own territory (so: this undermines the idea of politics strictly in territories))
- closed borders, travelling police
beginning of the cold war, but existed before
states are concerned with what (national) opponents are doing abroad (opponents in/as diasporas)
*Bulgarian umbrella: poison hidden in umbrella
guest workers programs
!relation diaspora and state are maintained
- the liberal Welfare state
- producing transportable labour force
- producing the ‘‘domestic abroad’’ (domestic attributes as health care, pension etc.)
after WW2 : welfare states
states with large unemployed population and lack of foreign currency
other states had a dire need of labor
workers weren’t shipped out, they had all sorts of attributes they would have at home, but they got it abroad
