Diaspora

For the science fiction novel by Greg Egan, see Diaspora (novel).

The term diaspora (Greek διασπορά, "a scattering or sowing of seeds") is used (without capitalization) to refer to any people or ethnic population forced or induced to leave their traditional ethnic homelands; being dispersed throughout other parts of the world, and the ensuing developments in their dispersal and culture.

In the beginning, the term Diaspora (capitalized) was used by the Ancient Greeks to refer to citizens of a grand city who migrated 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 to Greek, the word diaspora was used to refer specifically to the populations of Jews exiled from Judea in 586 BC by the Babylonians, and 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 late 20th century.

The academic field of diaspora studies was established in the late twentieth century, in regard to the expanded meaning of 'diaspora'. Jacob Riis, a renowned New York journalist and photographer, concluded that diaspora was established in the mid twentieth century but it was a confirmed fact that the expanded meaning of diaspora was thoroughly researched in the late twentieth century.

History is replete with diaspora-like events. The Migration Period relocations, which included several phases is just one of many. The first phase Migration Period displacement from between AD 300 and 500 included relocation of the Goths, (Ostrogoths, Visigoths), Vandals, Franks, various 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 twentieth century continued to see massive ethnic refugee crises, due to war and the rise of nationalism, fascism, communism and racism, as well as from natural disasters and economic collapse. The first half of the twentieth century saw the creation of hundreds of millions of ethnic refugees across Europe, Asia, and northern Africa. Many of these refugees who did not die from starvation or war went to the Americas.

List of notable diasporas

• The Acadian Diaspora or Great Expulsion (Grand Dérangement) occurred when the British expelled ~10,000 Acadians (over three-fourths of the Acadian population in Nova Scotia) between 1755 and 1764. The British sent members of the same community to different colonies to impose assimilation.
• Afghan people who fled their country throughout the 20th century and the long civil wars
• The African diaspora comprises the indigenous peoples of Africa and their descendants, wherever they are in the world beyond the African continent.
• Arabs who have migrated out from the Arab World, and now reside in Western Europe, the Americas, Australia and elsewhere. (see Arab diaspora)
• Armenians living in their ancient homeland, which had been controlled by the Ottoman Empire for centuries, fled persecution during several periods of migration, from the 1880s to the 1910s. Many Armenians settled in California, France, and Lebanon. (see Armenian Diaspora).
• Basque diaspora, Basques who left the Basque Country, usually to the Americas for economic or political reasons. There are also Basque Catholic missionaries.
• Bosnian diaspora as a phenomenon appeared after four years of planned ethnic cleansing in Bosnia. It mainly consists of Bosnian Muslims but also out of Bosnian Croats, Bosnian Serbs, Bosnian-Jewish people, and Bosnian-Roma people. People from Bosnia can be found almost anywhere in the world. Many Bosnians live in USA, mostly in large cities like New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, Massachusetts, Los Angeles, California, and many live in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Austria, Croatia, Serbia, and many other places.
• Chechens who fled Chechnya during the late 20th century insurrection against Russia
• Chinese diaspora
• Chitpavan Diaspora : Hindu converts of mixed East Europeans / Jews who migrated to India 600 years ago.
• Colombian diáspora
• Crimean Tatar diaspora, formed after the annexation of the Crimean Khanate by Russia, in 1783.
• The South Asian diaspora includes millions of people in Suriname, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Jamaica, Mauritius, Fiji, Singapore, Malaysia and other countries who left British India in the 19th and early 20th century, and millions more who have moved to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates in recent decades (see Desi).
  • Indian diaspora refers to people originating from India living in other parts of the world.
  • Tamil diaspora is a term used to denote people of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lankan Tamil origin who have settled in many parts of rest of India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Reunion, South Africa, Mauritius, Fiji, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, French Caribbean islands, Europe, Australia and North America
  • The Roma (English terms: Gypsy, Gypsies), a traditionally 'dispersed' people in Europe, with origins in South Asia (or perhaps, northern India), are even more 'dispersed' today, following the Holocaust of Nazi Germany. (See Some names for the Roma)
• The Southeast Asian diaspora includes the refugees from the numerous wars that took place in Southeast Asia, such as World War II and the Vietnam War.
  • The Vietnamese disapora who fled communist rule in Vietnam following their victory in the Vietnam War.
  • The Filipino diaspora is seen throughout Australia, the United States, Canada, Italy, United Kingdom, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Overseas workers have their own political party in the Philippine Congress.
• The French Canadian diaspora includes hundreds of thousands of people who left Quebec for "greener pastures" in the United States, Ontario and the Prairies, between 1840 and the 1930s.
• Cuban diaspora The exodus of over two million Cubans following the Cuban Revolution and the resulting Communist government.
• The Greek diaspora refers to any ethnic Greek populations living outside the borders of Greece and Cyprus as a result of modern or ancient migrations. There is a Department of Diaspora Affairs in the Greek government.
• The Heimatvertriebene, the ethnic German refugees and expellees from Eastern Europe and from provinces of the former German Reich during and following World War II, see Oder-Neisse line
• The Italian diaspora occurred after the unification of Italy in 1861. Vast numbers of Italians emigrated to the United States, Argentina, Brazil and elsewhere in the Americas and Europe.
• The Irish diaspora consists of Irish emigrants and their descendants in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, South Africa and nations of the Caribbean and continental Europe. The diaspora contains over 80 million people and it is the result of mass migration from Ireland, due to past famines and political oppression. The term first came widely into use in Ireland in the 1990s when the then-President of Ireland, Mary Robinson began using it to describe all those of Irish descent.
• The Jewish diaspora in its historical use, refers to the period between the Roman invasion and subsequent occupation of Land of Israel beginning 70 CE, to the re-establishment of Israel in 1948. In modern use, the 'Diaspora' refers to Jews living outside of the Jewish state of Israel today. There is a 'Ministry of Diaspora Affairs' in the Israeli government, for example.
• Palestinians who fled Palestine during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the 1967 Arab-Israeli War (see Palestinian exodus, Palestinian refugees)
• "Polonia", the diaspora of the Poles, started with the emigrations after the partitions of Poland, January Uprising and the November Uprising, enlarged by the Nazi policies, and later by the establishment of the Curzon line
• Portuguese diaspora
• The White Russian diaspora, Russians who left Russia in the wake of the October Revolution and Russian Civil War, seeking to preserve pre-Soviet Russian culture and the Orthodox Christian faith.
• Serbian diaspora
• The Scottish diaspora includes the Highland clearances which depopulated large parts of the Scottish Highlands and had lasting negative effects on Scottish Gaelic culture; the Lowland Clearances which resulted in significant migration of Lowland Scots to Canada and the United States after 1776; the Ulster-Scots, descended primarily from Lowland Scots who settled Ulster during the Plantation of Ulster in the 17th century and subsequently fled to the Americas in mass numbers throughout the 18th century due to religious and cultural persecution as well as other socio-economic factors.
• The Romanians, who emigrated for the first time in larger figures between 1910 and 1925, and left in mass after the fall of communist regime in Romania in 1989, and comprise the Romanian diaspora, are found today in large numbers in USA, Italy, Spain, Canada.
• Various ethnic minorities from areas under Russian and Soviet control following the Russian Revolution, continuing through the mass forced-resettlements under Stalin.
• Various groups fled in large numbers from areas under Axis control during World War II, or after the border changes following the war, and formed their own diasporas.
• The Somali diaspora that includes ethnic Somalis who live in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti, as well other parts of Africa. It also includes the one million people who live in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, North America, and the Middle East as refugees from the civil war. It altogether numbers between five and seven million. This is almost the same as the population of Somalia itself.
• The South African diaspora mainly consists of white South African emigrants, especially to white Afrikaans speakers who have fled the country for a number of reasons. There is also a growing black middle class in South Africa, many of whom are starting to emigrate as well, furthering the demographic weight of South Africans abroad. South Africans have largely settled in the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, New Zealand and Canada.
• The diaspora of the Tibetan people began in 1959 when the People's Republic of China invaded Tibet.
• The Macedonian diaspora was created by Macedonian refugees from Macedonia to the United States of America, Australia, Canada, Germany, Sweden, New Zealand, South African Republic, Argentina, Italy, and many other states. There are approximately 2,000,000 Macedonians worldwide.
• The Jaffnese/Ceylonese Diaspora refers to the diaspora of Sri Lankan Tamils, especially those post-1983 due to the civil conflict in Sri Lanka. This has created huge Tamil communities in countries such as Canada, Australia, UK, Germany and other European countries. In many ways, the Jaffnese Diaspora is compared to the Jewish Diaspora, both historically, socially and economically. It is a subset of the greater Tamil Diaspora.
• Futuristic science fiction sometimes refers to a "Diaspora", taking place when much of humanity leaves Earth to settle on far-flung "colony worlds".

The above list is not comprehensive or definitive. Only a few have been given much historical attention. There is much talk currently (after Hurricane Katrina in 2005) of a New Orleans or US Gulf Coast diaspora, but only time will tell how significant a number of those evacuees will indeed not return.

During the Cold War era, huge populations of refugees continued to form from areas of war, especially from Third World nations; all over Africa, South and Central America, the Middle East, and east Asia.

Notable Population Dispersements

There are many examples around the world of population dispersements where, for reasons other than those related to the conditions required to be considered a diaspora, people have left their homelands or countries.

• Australian migration is a somewhat contentious term, probably coined by the Southern Cross Group, to refer to the 860,000 Australians living overseas. The migrations have a variety of causes ranging from war brides and their children to the more recent exodus of young Australians to Europe under working holiday visa programmes.
• Cornish migration refers to Cornish emigrants and their descendants in other parts of England and in countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Mexico. The diaspora was caused by a number of factors, but due mainly to economic reasons and the lack of jobs in the 18th and 19th centuries when many Cornish people or “Cousin Jacks” as they were known migrated to various parts of the world in search of a better life. {fact}
• Galician migration, Galicians who left their country for mainly economic reasons to richer areas of Spain or America (especially Argentina and Cuba) and, later, Western Europe (Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium).
• Palestinian migration refers to the dispersion of ethnically Arab peoples from the land currently occupied by the country of Israel following it's invasion by troops from Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and paramilitary Arab Palestinian forces in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Anticipating victory by the Arab forces, the Palestinian people were largely unable to return home when Israel defeated the invading armies.
• The Ukrainian migration, represented by Ukrainians who left their homeland in several waves of emigration, settling mainly in the Americas, but also Australia, and Europe. Also includes the Ukrainians who migrated from Ukraine to other parts of the former Soviet Union (mainly Russian Federation) during Soviet time.

See also

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

External links

• Diasporas of Highly Skilled and Migration of Talent
• Telugu Diaspora
• Global Diasporas
• Global Culture: essays on migration, globalization and their impact on global culture
• The Indian DiasporaT.L.S.Bhaskar
• The Tamil Diaspora - a Trans State Nation Nadesan Satyendra
• Katrina scatters a grim diaspora BBC
• In Throes of a Diaspora, Two Families Bind New York Times
• Diplomacy Monitor - Migration
• BBC The Cornish Diaspora - I’m alright Jack
• The Cornish Transnational Communities Project
• Overseas Cornish Associations