Digital Commons Network^™

Identity Formation In The Lebanese-American Christian Diaspora, Matthew Cesar Audi

Honors Projects

Since the late 1800s, people have immigrated to the United states from Lebanon and Syria, and the community’s racial and ethnic position within the United States has been contested ever since. Previous research emphasizes that while people from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are legally classified as “white” on the U.S. Census. However, many people from the region do not identify as white, and they often face discrimination or threats of violence. For people of Arab and Christian backgrounds this is further complicated because they are a part of the majority through their religion, but part of a …

Making The Revolution: The Young Lords And The Creation Of A New Puerto Rican Identity, Jaylynn M. Rodriguez

Sociology Honors Projects

In this paper, I provide a critique of the Young Lords by dissecting how the Young Lords shifted Puerto Rican identity from an assimilationist perspective to a politicized and decolonial one. Through understanding Puerto Rico (and consequently, Puerto Ricans) as an extension of what Anibal Quijano calls the 'coloniality of power’, I argue that the Young Lord’s develop a dichotomy between good vs. bad Puerto Ricans, where good Puerto Ricans are affirmed and legitimized as genuine Puerto Ricans, while bad Puerto Ricans are discredited and excluded from the movement. I identify four archetypes to show how the Young Lords divided …

Tibetan Vegans In Diaspora, Ringzen Wangmo

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Despite the Tsampa (Roasted Barley) eating culture and yak cheese merchandise in the market, the Tibetan culture is widely known as highly dependable on meat eating by non-Tibetans, little is known about the Tibetan Vegans officially known as karkyong. Overall vegetarianism is known and practiced in the Tibetan history throughout the centuries that’s what’s commonly known as vegan diets in modern society. But not known as Vegans in the Tibet then. This study also shed some light on Tibetan vegans in the diaspora and their journey of becoming vegan through interviews with restaurant owners, vegans, monks, nuns, and lay Tibetans …

Raj Karega Khalsa! - The Evolution Of The Sikh Identity, Vineet Mehmi

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Generally, religion has served as a method of creating a unique identity and history for many groups across history. This concept is especially true for the Sikh community, to the point that they have carved their own niche across the different places they inhabit in the world, whether that be their homeland of Panjab or their extensive population in places like Canada or the United Kingdom. However, this expansion and development of their culture did not come without a cost, formed through countless battles, martyrdom, and revolutions. Chardi Kala, a foundational idea in Sikhi that refers to eternal optimism even …

Summary Report Of Discussions At The Forum “Nepali Diaspora Organizations In North America: Achievements, Opportunities, And Challenges”, Coppell, Texas, Usa July 2022, Ambika P. Adhikari

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

The forum “Nepali Diaspora Organizations in North America: Achievements, Opportunities and Challenges” was held at the annual convention of the Association of Nepalis in the Americas (ANA) in Coppell, TX, USA on July 2, 2022. Nepalese Society of Texas (NST) hosted the convention and forum. As studies related to diaspora have become important topics in the fields of development, community culture, sociology and anthropology, ANA decided to include this topic in the forums organized at the national convention.

The global Nepali diaspora population in 2022 is estimated at 800,000. Although no authoritative statistics is available, the Nepali diaspora in North …

Longing For The Homeland: The Palestinian American Diaspora And Palestinian Advocacy In The United States, Mohamed Khaled Ghumrawi

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores how Palestinian Americans in the diaspora connect with Palestine, Palestinian advocacy, and the Palestinian question. It analyzes and synthesizes the interaction of the Palestinian American diaspora and Palestinian advocacy, exploring its domestic and transnational linkages. It also explores the nexus of domestic and transnational aspects relating to Palestinian identity, political life, advocacy, culture, and politics. This project utilizes two main frameworks, the first is the tripartite composite state theory, focusing specifically on the normative-social structure. The second applies a framework of intersectionality, highlighting the interconnectedness of the Palestinian diaspora and the Palestinian question with other social …

Island Feminisms In/On Island Studies: Place, Justice, Movement, Noralis Rodriguez-Coss

Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Varieties Of Transnational Life: Brazilian Nikkeis’ Changing Cross-Border Ties With Two Homelands, Hiroyuki Shibata

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation explores the varieties of Brazilian Nikkei’s – Japanese emigrants to Brazil and their descendants – transnational lives throughout a century of their migration history. I propose an interactive process approach to migrant transnationalism to understand the divergence of Brazilian Nikkeis’ transnational lives between their two homelands, Japan and Brazil. First, I focus on the four macro-institutional contexts: 1) positions and development patterns of sending and receiving states within the international state system; the infrastructural power of states, more concretely 2) the diasporic bureaucracy of sending states and 3) the incorporative power of receiving states; and 4) the mobilizing …

The Continuities Within The Ghanaian Festival Scene: The Performance Of Nation Building And Identity Formation, Doreen Gyimah Adutwumwah

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Recovery After The Rupture: Linking Colonial Histories Of Displacement With Affective Objects And Memories, Aarzoo Singh

disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory

The notion of home and belonging, specifically in the context of South Asian postcolonial diasporas, is connected to past traumas of colonization and displacement. This paper addresses how trauma, displacement, and colonialism can be understood through and with material culture, and how familial objects and items emit and/ or carry within them, emotional narratives. I turn to the affective currency that emit and are transferred on and down from objects, by diasporic subjects, to access the possible reclamation of otherwise silenced narratives within colonial and postcolonial histories. By following the events of the Partition of India in 1947 as a …

You Only Remember Your Tragedies, Anonymous

SURGE

I am tired. I am tired of going to class and listening to my professor’s ignore my history. I am tired of going to office hours and them telling me that I am too biased to conduct research on the genocide of the country my family is from. I am tired of the way people give me these looks of pity whenever I tell them what happened to my family. I am tired of not being able to talk to anyone about this because I just feel like I’m spewing absolute nonsense because it feels like no one believes me. …

The Economic Integration Of Mexican Mennonite Immigrants In Canada, Marina Wiebe

MA Research Paper

With a rapidly shrinking proportion of Canadians that live in rural areas, there have been some attempts to settle immigrants in rural communities. With few exceptions, these attempts in Canada have been unsuccessful. Nevertheless, the Mennonite people are considered to be a population that maintains their retention in rural areas with some success. The literature regarding this specific immigrant group is limited and lacks context of the economic environment of Canada today. It is in the interest of government policy to have a working and current understanding of Mennonites’ economic outcomes and retention in rural communities. The integration patterns of …

Postcolonial Trauma In The Mediterranean: The Italian-Libyan Transnational Community, Rosario Pollicino

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study aims to recuperate the Italian collective remembering originating from the colonial offense in Libya. Focusing on works of testimony in different genres of contemporary literature written by the Italian former settlers in Libya, I analyze how these former settlers who moved to Libya have been subjected to different kinds of traumas by the Fascist government. I focus on how these traumas, individual and collective, are documented through these works and discuss how they continue to be relevant today. Drawing on sociology, anthropology, history, literary and trauma studies I argue that these cultural representations prove the existence of a …

Diasporic Insecurity As Constructional Framework For Chinese Political Identity In Colonial Malaya (1826-1957), Azlan Tajuddin Ph.D.

Journal of International and Global Studies

The ethnic Chinese in Malaysia have always been a politically conscious minority. Much of this was shaped during Malaysia’s (Malaya) colonial period when the Chinese community began experiencing various social insecurities associated with life as a diaspora. For one, as a migrant minority in a colonial society, the Chinese faced various uncertainties over their ability to maintain their cultural identity in a multiethnic capitalist society. Additionally, their own contradictory ideas about their status in Malaya as well as their segmented experiences along socio-economic lines did not accord them any unity in deciding their own political future. Using theories in political …

Experience As Counterpoint: A Qualitative Study Of Home, Happiness & Aging Amongst First-Generation South Asian Migrants In The U.S., Angela Singh

Theses and Dissertations

Susan Stanford Friedman writes that “Home comes into being most powerfully when it is gone, lost, left behind, desired and imagined” (202). My dissertation addresses notions of home, nostalgia, happiness and aging often found in South Asian diasporic fiction, and from the results of a qualitative study I conducted in which I interviewed five migrant couples who moved to the US from India for educational and professional purposes in the 1960s and 1970s. This project draws on and contributes toward the fields of Migration and Diaspora Studies, Transnational Studies and South Asian Studies. My research aims to explore more uncommonly …

How To Be The Perfect Asian Wife!, Sophia Hill

Art and Art History Honors Projects

“How to be the Perfect Asian Wife” critiques exploitative power systems that assault female bodies of color in intersectional ways. This work explores strategies of healing and resistance through inserting one’s own narrative of flourishing rather than surviving, while reflecting violent realities. Three large drawings mimic pervasive advertisement language and presentation reflecting the oppressive strategies used to contain women of color. Created with charcoal, watercolor, and ink, these 'advertisements' contrast with an interactive rice bag filled with comics of my everyday experiences. These documentations compel viewers to reflect on their own participation in systems of power.

Contextualizing Palestinian Hybridity: How Pragmatic Citizenship Influences Diasporic Identities, Nicholas E. Bascuñan-Wiley

Sociology Honors Projects

Palestinians are one of the largest diaspora populations in the world, with members in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. How are the individual diasporic experiences of nationalism similar and different to one another? This research examines the creation and maintenance of Palestinian identity in diasporic contexts through ethnographic analysis and a series of interviews conducted in Chile, Jordan, and The United States. The results show that despite Palestinians maintaining Palestinianness as a dominant characteristic of identity in all three settings, there are contextual influences on how people integrate that identity into their lives. Within Jordan, Palestinians experience …

Chinese Diaspora And Western Australian Nature (Perth Region): A Study Of Material Engagement With The Natural World In Diasporic Culture, Li Chen

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Based on an ethnographic study of the everyday practices of diasporic Chinese residents of Perth, this project focuses on the relationship between the ecologic environment and diasporic Chinese cultures in contemporary Western Australia.

With the acceleration of globalization, studies in diaspora have increasingly absorbed geographic ideas. Research on the relationship between ecology and humankind has thrown new light on discussions of diaspora. However, there are few in-depth studies addressing the construction of diasporic place and space with an engagement of the material world. Considering the relative absence of the natural world as a serious subject in contemporary diaspora studies, the …

"Diaspora Is A Greek Word: Words By Greeks On The Diaspora", Marina Frangos

CALL: Irish Journal for Culture, Arts, Literature and Language

The article explores the different types of the Greek Diaspora in the past 150 years and how these different types are identified in literary production. Following global diasporas’ theory and particularly Robin Cohen’s typology of victim, labour, trade, cultural and imperial diasporas, various literary works are cited by writers of Greek heritage from different countries to determine whether these different types of diaspora have been represented and presented to a global audience. The article adds to a better understanding of global migrant literature. Writers cited include Elia Kazan, Pulitzer-prize winner Greek American Jeffrey Eugenides and Australia’s Christos Tsiolkas.

Beyond The Land Of Five Rivers: Social Inequality And Class Consciousness In The Canadian Sikh Diaspora, Harmeet S. Sandhu

MA Research Paper

Romanticized visions of Khalistan became emotively embedded in the hearts and minds of Sikh-Canadians following the execution of Operation Blue Star. Today, insurgents residing within the contested homeland continue to draw support from Sikh immigrants and their Canadian-born descendants. Perplexingly, while a sizable proportion of second and third-generation Sikh youth advocate for the creation of the theocratic state of Khalistan, many selectively disregard the righteous way of life envisioned by the founders of the Khalsa Panth. This paper presents a conceptual sociological analysis of the diasporic politics of identity and homeland. Although Marx, and other modern social theorists, had presumed …

Sounding Identity: Soundscapes, Music, And Technoculture In The Chinese Diaspora Of Panama, Corey Michael Blake

Masters Theses

Present in Panama since the 19^th century, the Chinese diaspora in Panama City, Panama represents an empowered community of individuals who identify as both Chinese and Panamanian. These Chinese Panamanian hybrid identities emerge within sonic environments through an engagement with transnational media and digital technologies, notably within retail stores. Specifically, music surfaces as an especially important sonic marker of the Chinese Panamanian hybridity. Within the mall of the Panamanian Chinatown of El Dorado, an interesting mixture of both Chinese and Latin American popular music genres sounds throughout the various stores. This mixture of music genres demonstrates Chinese Panamanian agency …

First We Take Manhattan... Global Cities And Diasporic Networks In The Aftermath Of Syriza's Victory, Despina Lalaki

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Appalachian Migrant Stances, Bridget L. Anderson

English Faculty Publications

The article explores the economic and industrial opportunities for Appalachian native speakers in the industrial Midwest countries after the World War I. Topics discussed include the characteristics of migration diaspora in Appalachian migrants, the Southern migrants metropolitan area lifestyle in Detroit, Michigan and the impacts of ethnographic factors to Appalachian migrants. Other topics include the social and identifiable factors for migrants.

Building Social Capital Through Events: Some Insights From The Gathering, Ziene Mottiar, Bernadette Quinn, Theresa Ryan

Conference papers

No abstract provided.

Individual And Collective Diaspora Remittances In The Philippines And Korea: An Interpretation Of Narrative Identity, Communicative Action, And Recognition, Janice Gow Pettey

Doctoral Dissertations

Research Topic

This study examines the practices of sending remittances from the United States to receivers in the Philippines, and collective and individual remittances supporting reunification of Korea with the intention of providing financial support for sustainable living and community projects. The research analyzes the narratives with reference to identity and culture of diaspora Filipinos and Koreans in the United States who are remitters and donors in the United States supporting humanitarian causes in North Korea.

Research Theory and Protocol

Through critical hermeneutic theory formulated by Paul Ricoeur (2005,1992,1991,1983) and Jürgen Habermas (1981,1987,1984) and the interpretive inquiry protocol developed by …

Global Journeys: From Transnationalism To Diaspora, Nadja C. Johnson

Journal of International and Global Studies

The emerging interest in diasporic studies has recently begun to permeate various academic disciplines, none more so than cultural studies. Today, there are numerous articles, books, and journals that have begun to engage in heated discussions on the importance of recognizing and understanding diaspora communities as collective transnational organizations and movements. However, sociology, the discipline out of which traditional migration theory emerged, has seemingly been more reluctant to embrace the concept of diaspora. In this article, I initiate a much needed conversation between traditional sociological migration theory and theories of diaspora emerging out of cultural studies. I look at the …

The Unbordered Borders, Winston Langley

Winston E. Langley

Many have taken on the task of purportedly advancing the cause of human rights by abstractly reciting them and clamoring for their implementation. Some speak about one’s right to free speech and democracy, for example, with a convenient forgetting of the right to education, which can promote the type of dialogical encounter that is sponsoring of liberatory, integrative construction and reconstruction of self and human societies. Others champion the right to freedom, but not the right to food, careless of the fact that the hungry are un-free, left as they are to the crushing dictates of their bellies; and still …

Emigrants And The Body Politic Left Behind: Results From The Latino National Survey, Roger D. Waldinger, Thomas Soehl, Nelson Lim

Roger D Waldinger

There is a duality at the heart of the migration phenomenon, as the very same people who are immigrants are also emigrants, making a living and possibly setting down roots in the receiving society, but still connected to and oriented toward the home society where their significant others still often reside. While research has shown that home country political conditions and experiences affect immigrant political behaviour in the receiving society, scholarship has yet to ask how those same factors affect the ways in which emigrants relate to the body politic left behind. This paper seeks to fill that lacuna. We …

The Development Of Ethnic Identity Among African-American, African Immigrant And Diasporic African Immigrant University Students, Victor A. Ogundipe Jr.

Sociology Theses

The goal of this project is to investigate the development of ethnic identity among different Black ethnic groups in the United States. The three different Black ethnic groups that will be investigated are: 1) African immigrants, 2) African-Americans, and 3) Diasporic African immigrants (Caribbean, Afro-Brazilian, etc.). These groups were selected because they broadly encompass the bulk of the range of people of African ancestry in the United States amalgamated under the term “Black.” Through thematic analysis of in-depth interviews, this project explores the impacts of immigration status, discrimination and inter-group relations (between different Black ethnic groups) on the ways that …

Ripped From The Land, Shipped Away And Reborn: Unthinking The Conceptual And Socio-Geo-Historical Dimensions Of The Massacre Of Bellavista, Aurora Vergara Figueroa

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The monograph Ripped from the land, shipped away, and reborn introduces the concept Destierro-which translates as uprooting, deracination, exile, exodus, and banishment- to unthink the intellectual, political, and legal categories used by prevailing intellectual models to narrate/explain the 2002 massacre, occurred at the community of Bellavista-Bojayá-Chocó-Colombia. This thesis offers a critical prospect of the event. It highlights ethno-historical analytics to deconstruct the concepts of forced displacement, and forced migration. I study the racial, class, gender, generational, and regional dimensions undergirding this phenomenon to propose an Afrodiasporic Decolonial Critique of the field of Forced Migration. Single-axis explanations of this event and …