Asian Diasporas: New Formations, New Conceptions

Parreñas, Rhacel Salazar, and Lok C. D. Siu, eds. Asian Diasporas: New Formations, New Conceptions. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 2007.

 

Introduction: Asian Diasporas- New Conceptions, New Frameworks (1-27)

By Parreñas, Rhacel Salazar, and Lok C. D. Siu

 

We define diaspora as an ongoing and contested process of subject formation embedded in a set of cultural and social relations that are sustained simultaneously with the “homeland” (real or imagined), place of residence, and compatriots or coethnics dispersed elsewhere. More precisely, we view the experience of diaspora as entailing (1) displacement from the homeland under the nexus of an unequal global political and economic system (2) the simultaneous experience of alienation and the maintenance of affiliation to both the country of residence and the homeland; and finally (3) the sense of collective consciousness and connectivity with other people displace from the homeland across the diasporic terrain. (1-2)

è Why always diaspora is experienced as the form of collectivity? Why not diasporic individuals but diaspora community? Are they collective features in nature?

è Keyword: alienation, displacement, homeland

 

As a theoretical tool, Asian diasporas should be treated as and open and flexible framework that is inductively formulated and, therefore, always being produced and revised with new research findings. (2)

 

We are not proposing a panethnic Asian diaspora but rather insist on referring to Asian diasporas in the plural. […] Hence, diasporic connections do not universally include the entire globe but instead are composed of fragmented, multiple connections that emerge from historically specific conditions. (7)

 

The Active role of Asian states in producing and sustaining diasporic connections and identifications with their respective homelands is perhaps the single most important factor that distinguishes Asian diasporas from most other diasporas (Israel being a notable exception). (8)

è Really? In that case, how can we see the first world’s diaspora? For example the USA’s broadcasting abroad towards their people, mostly soldiers. What about other country’s diasporic community? Is it true only in Asia?

è If this statement is true, but still there exists hierarchy. For example, Korean society needs to call for Korean American or Korean Japanese but Korean Chinese or Korean Russian are ignored.

 

While there is no singular or uncontested version of what Asia represents, the dominant perception of Asia still evokes a set of orientalized images and concerns.(9)