Discover

The term: 'diaspora' (in Ancient Greek, 'διασπορά' – "''a scattering or sowing of seeds''") is used (without capitalization) to refer to any people or ethnic population who are forced or induced to leave their traditional homelands, the dispersal of such people, and the ensuing developments in their culture.

Contents

Origins

The 20th century and beyond

List of notable diasporas

In popular culture

See also

Notes

Origins

In the beginning, the term ''diaspora'' was used by the Ancient Greeks to refer to citizens of a grand city who emigrated to a conquered land with the purpose of colonization to assimilate the territory into the empire. The original meaning was cut off from the present meaning when the Old Testament was translated into Greek, the word "diaspora" being used to refer specifically to the populations of Jews exiled from Judea in 586 BC by the Babylonians, and from Jerusalem in AD 136 by the Roman Empire. This term is used interchangeably to refer to the historical movements of the dispersed ethnic population of Israel, the cultural development of that population, or the population itself. The probable origin of the word is the Septuagint version of Deuteronomy 28:25, "thou shalt be a ''dispersion'' in all kingdoms of the earth". The term was assimilated from Greek into English in the mid 20th century. The academic field of diaspora studies was established at the same time, in regard to the expanded meaning of 'diaspora'. Some refugees are part of a diaspora, but the two terms are far from synonymous. Expatriates, if they exist in any number from one particular country, may be considered part of a diaspora.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]}
History contains numerous diaspora-like events. The Migration Period relocations, which included several phases, are just one set of many. The first phase Migration Period displacement from between AD 300 and 500 included relocation of the Goths, (Ostrogoths, Visigoths), Vandals, Franks, various other Germanic tribes, (Burgundians, Langobards, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Suebi, Alamanni, Varangians), Alans and numerous Slavic tribes. The second phase, between AD 500 and 900, saw Slavic, Turkic, and other tribes on the move, re-settling in Eastern Europe and gradually making it predominantly Slavic, and affecting Anatolia and the Caucasus as the first Turkic peoples (Avars, Bulgars, Huns, Khazars, Pechenegs) arrived. The last phase of the migrations saw the coming of the Magyars and the Viking expansion out of Scandinavia.

The 20th century and beyond

The twentieth century saw huge population movements. Partly this was due to natural disasters, as has happened throughout history, but it also involved large-scale transfers of people by government decree. Some diasporas occurred because the people went along with, or could not escape, the government's plan (such as Stalin's desire to populate Eastern Russia, Central Asia, and Siberia; and the transfer of millions of people between India and Pakistan in the 1947 Partition). Other diasporas occurred as people fled the decrees; for example, European Jews fleeing the Holocaust during World war II), and Hutu and Tutsi trying to escape the Rwandan Genocide in 1994.
During the Cold War era, huge populations of refugees continued to form from areas of war, especially from Third World nations; all over Africa (e.g., over 80,000 South Asians expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin in 1975), South America (e.g., thousands of Uruguayan refugees fled to Europe during military rule in the 1970s and 80's) and Central America (e.g., Nicaraguans, Salvadorians, Guatemalans, Hondurans, Costa Ricans and Panamanians), the Middle East (the Iranians who fled the 1978 Islamic revolution), the Indian subcontinent (thousands of former subjects of the British Raj went to the UK after India and Pakistan became independent in 1947), and Southeast Asia (e.g., the displaced 30,000 French ''colons'' from Cambodia expelled by the Khmer Rouge regime under Pol Pot). The issue of untold millions of Third World refugees created more diasporas than ever in human history.
There is talk of a New Orleans, or U.S. Gulf Coast, "diaspora" in the wake of Hurricane Katrina of 2005, if a significant number of evacuees do not return.

List of notable diasporas

Main articles: List of diasporas

History provides us with many examples of notable diasporas.

In popular culture

★ Futuristic science fiction sometimes refers to a "Diaspora," taking place when much of humanity leaves Earth to settle on far-flung "colony worlds."

See also

★ Diaspora studies

★ Diaspora politics

★ Exodus is another Biblical term related to migration, but with a connotation of grouping rather than the scattering of a diaspora.

★ Displaced person

★ Ethnic cleansing

★ Population transfer

★ Slave trade

★ Immigration

★ Refugee

Notes

1. The world's successful diasporas - Research - World Business
2. Diasporas of Highly Skilled and Migration of Talent
3. Telugu Diaspora
4. The Arabs of Brazil
5. Arabs Making Their Mark in Latin America
6. Global Culture: essays on migration, globalization and their impact on global culture
7. The Tamil Diaspora - a Trans State Nation Nadesan Satyendra
8. Katrina scatters a grim diaspora BBC
9. Out of the Hadhramaut
10. Diplomacy Monitor - Migration
11. BBC The Cornish Diaspora - I’m alright Jack
12. The Cornish Transnational Communities Project