The New Diasporism and the Old Diaspora
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11776937 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Arnold J Band (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1996 |
| Volume | 1 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 323-331 |
| Publication date | 1996-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Israel Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1084-9513 • E-ISSN: 1527-201X |
| Publisher | Indiana University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2979/isr.1996.1.1.323 |
| OpenAlex | W2070714676 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 1 |
NOW THAT DIASPORA STUDIES ARE spreading over the land like chaff scattered by the wind, it might be helpful to revisit the diaspora from which all notions of diaspora have been disseminated: the Diaspora of the Jews. Diasporan discourse today, deriving from post-structural and post-colonial circles, differs so radically in concept and language from traditional discourse about the historic diaspora of the Jews, that one wonders about the propriety of the usage of the word. Precisely because of contemporary confusion about the term and its historic origins, it is imperative to attempt a brief presentation of what the Diaspora originally was. I revisit this historical phenomenon with all due hesitation, since the literature on the Diaspora is so voluminous, and the term itself so differently nuanced in each instance over a period of at least twenty-five hundred years, that any statement one makes must be qualified repeatedly, often beyond practical definition. On the other hand, the opportunity to discuss the Diaspora in response to the "new diasporism" (my nomenclature) is challenging, since this new angle affords both fresh thoughts and perhaps better focus. For example: to ask the question, "How does a diaspora continue to exist over centuries without sustained territorial cohesiveness and despite the frequent hostility of foreign host populations?" forces us to raise several other questions: Do we assume that a diaspora must have a center, a homeland? What is the relationship of the diaspora to that center? Does the diaspora community create within it certain institutions and narratives which enable it to exist as a diaspora community? How do the newly created institutions and narratives relate to actual or mythic public spaces in the "home" community? When we begin to examine the variety of discussed diasporas—for instance, in the periodical, DIASPORA 1 —we begin to realize that this is one of the most slippery terms in critical usage today—slippery and emotionally charged
Diaspora · Political science · Sociology · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Gender Studies · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Philippine History and Culture
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.14 |
| Citation span | 1997 - 2022 (26) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |