Who is the Diaspora? The Negotiation of Diasporic Identities in the Romanian Online Political Discourse

Drawing on an interdisciplinary framework based on critical and pragmatic discourse analysis, this study investigates the way Romanian politicians negotiate the identity of the Romanian diaspora on their Facebook pages. It also points out to the way discourse is used to introduce and (de)legitimize political decisions and actions. The topic is analyzed in different political and social contexts: the presidential elections in 2014 and 2019, the Euro-parliamentary elections in 2019, and the crisis generated by the comeback of the Romanians abroad as a result of the corona-virus pandemics in 2020. The results of the study show that the diaspora is part of the political discourse as a topic mainly during electoral periods, which are more heavily stake driven. The subject of the diaspora was approached by political actors in a strategic manner, starting from their communication project and the political outcome they were aiming for. The paper contributes to the growing body of knowledge on strategies of constructing diasporic identities in the political discourse. The paper also illustrates spe-cific and emergent strategies of diasporic identity construction in different political and social contexts in a social media environment.

Living with difference: Ontological security and identification of second-generation members of the Nigerian diaspora in Peckham, ‘Little Lagos’, London

This article presents the impact of digital technologies and small media on the second-generation members of the Nigerian diaspora in Peckham (London, United Kingdom). Situated within the larger context of global trends, cultural production and commodification that have become central to contemporary identity articulation, the article argues that cultural production and consumption have become the site of creativity in negotiating multiple attachments for this second-generation offspring of the initial migrants in such a way that living with ‘difference’ has become a part of everyday diasporic experiences. The article shows how second-generation Nigerians in Peckham perform their diasporic identities around the popularity and the inclusion of Afrobeats music, Nollywood films and the representation of ankara clothing styles in the host society and in the global mainstream. It reveals the dialectic interaction between local cultures and global media by showing how digital technologies not only make it possible to connect across space and time but also aid the production of new identities. In contrast to the fear of the older migrants over their perception of non-involvement of young Nigerians in belonging to their homeland, a sense of patriotic pride is demonstrated by their offspring. Insights are drawn from seven-month ethnography of the Nigerian diaspora in Peckham, London. The findings suggest that the inclusion of local artefacts from Nigeria in the host society provides a sense of national pride for the born abroad children in their country of heritage.

From “Oh, you’re Chinese . . . ” to “No bats, thx!”: Racialized Experiences of Australian-Based Chinese Queer Women in the Mobile Dating Context

This article explores racial exclusion, bias, and prejudice in the context of same-sex mobile dating, focusing on the experiences of a group of Australian-based Chinese queer women. Semi-structured in-depth interviews and participant observation were used to examine participants’ racialized experiences. The findings indicate that Western dating apps, such as Tinder, Bumble, and HER, served as crucial channels of these women’s interracial and intercultural encounters while living in Australia. However, they largely perceived these apps, and HER in particular, as White-dominated and ill-suited to their dating practices, thus reinforcing their sense of exclusion and ostracism. Although the participants frequently encountered subtle prejudice on dating apps, they experienced more blatant and aggressive forms of racism triggered by the COVID-19 outbreak. Multiple factors, including their language capability, the COVID-19 pandemic, and their racial, ethnic, and diasporic identities, played an intersectional role in these women’s racialized experiences. Correspondingly, the participants developed diverse interpretations of and responses to their racialized experiences. This study reveals how the anti-Asian racism in the global West permeates the realm of queer women in the context of mobile dating. It contributes to understanding the digital dating practices and racialized experiences of queer women and the broader Chinese diaspora.

"In this damn country, which we hate and love”: The Pakistani-British Diaspora During the Thatcher Years in My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

Set in Britain during the years of Margaret Thatcher’s government, Stephen Frears and Hanif Kureishi’s My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) depicts the complex formation of Pakistani-British diasporic identities in a time of rising migration levels and anti-immigrant sentiment. Thatcher and her government famously celebrated Britain’s colonial past and its legacies in an attempt to produce fixed definitions of what being British meant as a cultural and national identity marker. As such distinctions of Britishness and non-Britishness determined who was believed to belong and who was not, Britain exercised what Jacques Derrida calls ‘conditional hospitality’ (2000): creating an environment which accepts those who it considers ‘British’ enough and rejects those who do not fulfil the dominant notion of Britishness. Due to this political climate, the Pakistani characters’ relationships with ‘Britishness’ are represented as fraught, ambivalent, and in some cases, characters reject Thatcherite ideas of Britishness all together. In the film, the experiences of Pakistani characters — Nasser, Hussain, and Omar — demonstrate that to obtain agency in Britain, some Pakistani subjects had no choice but to work within the system that oppressed them. This paper examines how the three characters individually resist imperial discourse and explores the ways in which My Beautiful Laundrette shows the impact of Thatcher’s speeches on Britishness on the Pakistani-British diaspora during her premiership.

DIASPORIC AND CROSS-CULTURAL IDENTITIES IN PAKISTANI FILM KHUDA KE LIYE (IN THE NAME OF GOD)

Purpose: The study aims to identify the various diasporic identities, hybrid identities, and identity crisis analyses of a Pakistani film, ‘Khuda Kay Liye’ released on July 20, 2007, written, directed, and produced by Shoaib Mansoor. Method: The present study is qualitative by nature and interpretive by approach. The researchers collected the primary data from the film watching it profoundly. The secondary data was collected from the various relevant articles published in periodicals/journals to build the theoretical argument—analyzing the data utilizing the thematic analysis technique. Main Findings: This qualitative analysis enlightens more significant issues about diaspora and identities in the focused film. Individuals in the film represent themselves distinctive living in another society, culture, or religion, practicing their native (Pakistani) cultural norms and ideologically. Moreover, as a subordinate ethnic group, specifically Muslim characters in the film, face discrimination and oppression. Through qualitative discussions based on excerpts dealing with socio-cultural behavior, the researchers concluded that diasporic identities constitute the core thematic content of the film. Application of the Study: The study would be significant for understanding diasporic and hybrid identities. The academic researcher may adopt the theoretical framework of the present research to employ it on the other genres of Pakistani literature to find the diasporic identities and identity crises. The teachers of Pakistani literature would also seek help to understand and teach the concepts analyzed in the research. The Study’s Originality: The study is contemporary as it employs conceptual, theoretical frameworks to explore the diasporic features in a film.

The last ship : repatriation from British Guiana to India

In 1955 the ship, the M.V. Resurgent, took the last group of ex-indentured Indo-Caribbean labourers back to India. This was a closing chapter on Indo-Caribbean Indentureship, whereby thousands of Indians came to Caribbean shores between 1838 and 1917. Indian indentured labourers had arrived to work British Caribbean plantations, with a "right to return" to India built into their indenture contracts. The clause did not specify a time limit on claims. Four decades after the abolition of Indentureship, a number of ex-indentured labourers from British Guianese plantations and their families opted to take the last ship back to a recently liberated India. This recovered history through the lived experiences of the last Repatriation Officer, Chhablal Ramcharan is located within the emancipatory energy of postcolonial scholarship, and uses narrative, memory and archives to contribute to an understanding of Indo-Caribbean migration, settlement, and diasporic identities

The last ship : repatriation from British Guiana to India

In 1955 the ship, the M.V. Resurgent, took the last group of ex-indentured Indo-Caribbean labourers back to India. This was a closing chapter on Indo-Caribbean Indentureship, whereby thousands of Indians came to Caribbean shores between 1838 and 1917. Indian indentured labourers had arrived to work British Caribbean plantations, with a "right to return" to India built into their indenture contracts. The clause did not specify a time limit on claims. Four decades after the abolition of Indentureship, a number of ex-indentured labourers from British Guianese plantations and their families opted to take the last ship back to a recently liberated India. This recovered history through the lived experiences of the last Repatriation Officer, Chhablal Ramcharan is located within the emancipatory energy of postcolonial scholarship, and uses narrative, memory and archives to contribute to an understanding of Indo-Caribbean migration, settlement, and diasporic identities

Redeeming the Study of African Essentialism

Chapter 2 provides the book’s theoretical foundations by positioning tropes of Africanness as central to the analysis of musical constructions of diasporic identities. After introducing six well-known tropes—rhythmicity, percussiveness, embodiment, spirituality, spontaneity, and collectivism—with the baggage and symbolism attached to them, it presents their role in the debate of African survivals. By interpreting early writings on Africanisms, Paul Gilroy’s concept of anti-anti-essentialism, and Steven Feld’s notion of interpretive moves, this chapter argues for the importance of taking seriously musicians’ ideas and rhetoric about essentialisms as well as the ways in which they materialize them in sound, musical structure, and performance practices. This implies an analytical shift of focus from Africanisms as cultural imponderables to tropes of Africanness that are rhetorically asserted and overtly manifested, enabling better understandings of diasporic cultural creation and people’s agency.