Diasporic Postcolonialism and Its Antinomies

This essay calls into question a certain viewpoint that has become widespread in postcolonial cultural theory with respect to the representation of phenomena grouped loosely under the rubric of diaspora. The viewpoint in question can be called "diasporism," referring to a pro-diaspora sensibility that has been and is being articulated in various disciplinary enclaves for at least the last two decades- principally in Jewish cultural studies but also in Black British, Asian American, and postcolonial cultural studies. Disillusioned by the Zionist dismissal of the legitimacy of diaspora as a "normal"- indeed, a desirable-form of existence, some Jewish cultural theorists have sought to articulate an affirmative view of diasporic culture, emphasizing its power to provide a fitting alternative to territorialized notions of Jewish identity (e.g., Boyarin and Boyarin; Omer, "Palestine," 147). To these critics, it remains a matter of pride that Judaism, along with most of modern Jewish culture, was itself fashioned in the diaspora; hence any charges that Jewish life in the galut (exile) is uncreative or inferior to life in the state of Israel are unsustainable. A good example of this diasporist outlook can be found in Philip Roth's 1993 novel Operation Shylock, whose main character, also named Philip Roth, preaches "diasporism" as a happier alternative to living in the war-torn State of Israel. George Steiner's widely discussed essay, "Our Homeland, The Text" similarly proclaims a diasporist sensibility, seeking to locate the Jewish homeland not in the enclosed territory of a nation-state but in the deterritorialized idioms of rabbinic spiritual and discursive traditions. There are, of course, many more such sources

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Diaspora · Epistemology · Globalization · Homeland · Hybridity · Jewish culture · Jewish identity · Jewish state · Jewish studies · Judaism · Literature · Political science · Politics · Sensibility · Situated · Sociology · State (computer science · Subjectivity · Theology · Zionism · Anthropology · Caribbean history, culture, and politics · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Gender Studies · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Jewish Identity and Society · Law · Philosophy · Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies · Race, History, and American Society · Religious studies

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• Devouring the Map

  Sujata Ramachandran•South Asian Review•2011

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• Terra Prometida, exílio e diáspora

  Open Access•Marta F Topel•Horizontes Antropológicos•2015

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• Dead Tired

  Ianna Hawkins Owen•Qui Parle•2024

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• Still, Nothing

  Open Access•Ianna Hawkins Owens, Ianna Hawkins Owen•Feminist Review•2018

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• Reimagining spatiality in South Asian diasporic literature

  Zhang Qiuchen, Moussa Pourya Asl et al.•Journal for Cultural Research•2024

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• Routes

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• The Dialogic Imagination

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• The black Atlantic

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• Imperial Eyes

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• Policing the Crisis

  Stuart Hall, Chas Critcher et al.•Policing the Crisis•2026

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• Post-Colonial Studies

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• Stuart Hall

  Stuart Hall, David Morley andDavid Morley et al.•Stuart Hall•2006

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• "Palestine Was a Halting Place, One of Many"

  Ranen Omer, Charles Reznikoff•MELUS Multi-Ethnic Literature of…•2000

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• The Nation-State and Its Others

  Khachig Tololyan•Diaspora A Journal of Transnational…•1991

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• On Postmodernism and Articulation

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• The diasporic imaginary

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• Global Diasporas, an Introduction

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• Rethinking Diaspora (s)

  Khachig Tololyan•Diaspora A Journal of Transnational…•1996

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• The Uses of Diaspora

  Brent Hayes Edwards•Social Text•2001

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• Culture and Imperialism

  Andrew J Pierre, Edward Said et al.•Foreign Affairs•1993

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• Diaspora

  Daniel Boyarin, J Boyarin•Critical Inquiry•1993

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• Opponents, Audiences, Constituencies, and Community

  Edward W Said•Critical Inquiry•1982

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