‘Diaspora’ has its roots in the Greek word Diaspeirein – “to scatter about, disperse”. 'Dia ' means “about, across” and 'Speirein ' means “to scatter". Earlier, Diaspora was used to refer to citizens of a dominant city who immigrated to a conquered land with the purpose of colonization, to absorb the territory into the empire. That is why there are a lot of arguments between scholars as to what ‘Diaspora’ and ‘Diaspora studies’ mean. Diaspora is located between cultures, between majority and minority, nation and non-nation, citizen and foreigner, original and hybrid.
The Indian Diaspora is a general term to describe the people who migrated from India. Migration has taken place due to historical, political and economic reasons including higher education, better prospects and marriage. However, the migrated Indian community has showed greater sense of adjustments, adaptability, mobility and accessibility.
During the ancient times a large number of Indians migrated to other parts of Asia to spread Buddhism and to trade. During the British period, a major lot of Indians migrated due to misery, deprivation and sorrow to the U.K, Africa and U.S.A. Migration was also in wave in the nineteenth century in order to flourish to the developed economies like the U.K., U.S.A. Australia etc. It was a major wave as it gave rise to immigration either to study or settle and it goes on till present date following the footsteps of the succeed lot. The situation today is that the Indian
The progression of people into and within the United States has had an essential impact on the nation, both intentionally and unintentionally. Progressions such as The Great Migration and the Second Great Migration are examples of movements that impacted the United States greatly. During these movements, African Americans migrated to flee racism and prejudice in the South, as well as to inquire jobs in industrial cities. They were unable to escape racism, but they were able to infuse their culture into American society. During the twentieth century, economic and political problems led to movements such as The Great Migration and The Second Great Migration which impacted the United States significantly.
Immigration is the movement of people into another country or region to which they are not native in order to settle there, especially as permanent residents or future citizens. Immigrants are motivated to leave their countries for a variety of reasons, including a desire for economic prosperity, political issues, family reunification, escaping conflict or natural disaster, or simply the wish to change one’s surroundings.
Thomas Jefferson believed that expanding westward was the key to a healthy nation. Forty percent of the population lived in trans -Appalachian west. Most people had left their homes from the East for a economic opportunity.
As the world moved throughout the time of 1890-1945, the United states experienced a myriad of events that moved it closer to the founding ideals. However, the main ideal, which was supported by plenty of actions, became evident to be “opportunity”. Some of the events that brought the United States closer to the American ideals was the great migration, women in WWII, and African Americans in WWII. Each of these happenings/positions opened doors to other people allowing them to explore new possibilities, hence why they support the forward movement to the ideal of “opportunity”.
To begin it is helpful to understand that the word “migrant” is a rather contested concept, one that changes over time, and varies depending on the criteria used to assign it.(Raghuram & Erel, 2014, p.133)
During the mass immigration era of America, an abundant number of people traveled to the urban industrial society of the United States in aspiration to seek job opportunities and better lives than the ones they left behind. These groups included the Poles, Italians, Chinese, Mexicans, Japanese, East European Jews, and the African- Americans. However, one of these groups mentioned was distinctly different from the rest: the African-Americans. They were already American citizens, who migrated to the northern American cities to free themselves from segregation, oppression, and harsh conditions they experienced in the South and obtain equal rights and opportunities. Although the African-Americans'
As said in our book the United States became a transcontinental nations between the years of 1845 and 1848, increasing the size of the Americas by 50 percent. How was this done? Through things like annexation, negotiation and wars the U.S gained more than one million square miles. With the new territory up to the Mississippi River claimed and settled and the Louisiana Purchase explored, Americans everywhere headed west to explore this new land of opportunities. This Western migration and settlement, coined "manifest destiny" in 1845 by a newspaper editor to describe the essence of this mindset, played a major role in this rapid expansion of the United States in 1845 to 1848. During these years of this extraordinary growth we would see farm
No diasporic community manifests all of these characteristics or shares with the same intensity an identity with its scattered ancestral kin. In many respects, diasporas are not actual but imaginary and symbolic communities and political constructs; it is we who often call them into being.” (Palmer)
Each person has a private purpose of leaving his hometown to migrate to other countries. If someone wants to live in another country, its probrably because of the modern civilization; the others might want to have a better future for his child in education, medical care, fresh environment, family unity and to have better job opportunities.
In simple terms, the Diaspora as a concept, describes groups of people who currently live or reside outside the original homelands. We will approach the Diaspora from the lenses of migration; that the migration of people through out of the African continent has different points of origin, different patterns and results in different identity formations. Yet, all of these patterns of dispersion and germination/ assimilation represent formations of the Diaspora. My paper will focus on the complexities of the question of whether or not Africans in the Diaspora should return to Africa. This will be focused through the lenses of the different phases in the Diaspora.
After the Immigration Reform Act of 1965, United States Congress liberated the restrictions placed on Asian-Indian Immigration and over 300,000 Indians emigrated from India (Helweg 1990). Since then, the Asian-Indian population has surged to become the second largest immigrant group in the United States after the Mexican population (Migration Policy Institute 2014). The main reasons for immigration not only include financial reasons, but also growing professional opportunities, educational advancement, social freedom, thriving economic opportunities and political independence. The traditional Indian culture portrays women to be obedient, forbearing, nurturing and soft-spoken (Mehta 2009). American culture, on the other hand, encourages women to be independent, incites individualism and has much more flexible perspective toward male and female gender roles. According to assimilation theory, which is the process by which ethnic, racial and cultural distinctions are absorbed from one subordinate group to the cultural ways of the more dominant group, Asian-Indian immigrants are likely to assimilate at least some degree of the American culture (Mehta, 2009). According to Portes and Rumbaut (1996), learning the language and culture of the dominant society marks the beginning of acculturation process. Acculturation is defined as the adaptation of
In the Second Edition of Servants of Globalization: Migration and Domestic Work, Rhacel Parreñas examines all of the challenging aspects of the lives of migrant Filipino domestic workers. Throughout the interviews that are included in this novel, the author was able to analyze different cases filled with personal struggle and familial support using the perspectives of many determined women across the diaspora, mainly focusing on those to travel to work in Western Countries. In this paper, I will briefly summarize the first three chapters, bringing to light the most important aspects the Parreñas included. I will then discuss the methodology used in her convincing global ethnography, before I include both the advantages and disadvantages to
The dictionary meaning of migration is to movement from one part of something to another. Human migration is the movement of people from one place to another place ( Managalam, 2015).It is of several types such as temporary, permanent, international, internal, voluntary or forced. As the name defined permanent migration is the one in which a person move from his original place or country to another place or country and has no plans to move back to their original home. However, temporary migration is movement from one place to another for limited time. Forced migration is the one in which people have no choice but to move and opposite is true for voluntary migration in which a person make the choice to move out. Internal migration is the movement within the country whereas international migration is the movement from one country to another country(e Schooltoday, 2006). An example of internal migration is the movement of people from Punjab to Haryana whereas an example of international migration is the movement of people from India to Canada.
Fun fact:There is also different types of migration. “Economic migration” is when people are migrating to a country that has a higher percent rate of getting a job. “Social migration” is when you are migrating to start a new life or to live closer to your family. “Political migration” is when people are moving to escape corrupted government or civil war. “Environmental migration” is when natural disasters destroy homes and people try to start a new life in a new country.
Hence, the first wave of migration consisted large number of upper-caste Hindus and the second wave of migration consisted of large number of low-caste Hindus. When the upper-caste Hindus migrated, it was easy for them to get support and shelter. They were able to find a safe haven in the homes of their affluent friends and relatives. But that was not case with the low-caste refugees. Unable to find any shelter and support, these Dalit refugees squatted on public and private land.