Diasporas Concepts, Intersections, Identities

Despite the increasing importance of the concept of 'diaspora' and its widespread use in academic case studies and in the self-description of a number of minority communities and networks, the subject has received relatively little general scholarly treatment.Diasporas: Concepts, Identities, Intersectionsaddresses this lack by providing a comprehensive and authoritative overview of the political and cultural ideas and groups involved. Wide-ranging and interdisciplinary, the book contains examinations of major concepts and theories, including migration, ethnicity and postcolonialism. It also provides introductions to selected key diasporas -- Jewish, Irish and African American among others -- as well as discussions of diaspora in relation to a range of important issues and processes, and explorations of new directions in research.

Kim Knott is Director of the AHRC "Diasporas, Migration and Identities" Programme (a £6.3 million investment), overseeing some fifty small and large projects, workshops and networks. She combines this with her role as Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Leeds where she continues to manage her own research projects, to teach research methods and to supervise student projects on religious diasporic communities, and religion, space and locality. Her first book was on what would now be called the "Hindu diaspora" in Britain (1986); her most recent on is The Location of Religion: A Spatial Analysis (2005). Her work has included articles over many years on migration, ethnicity, identity and religion, and more recently space and place. She has good contacts with scholars internationally as a result of her program directorship and roles in the International Association for the History of Religions and European Association for the Study of Religions. http://www.diasporas.ac.uk/Kim_Knott.htm; http://www.leeds.ac.uk/trs/staff/kim_knott.htm  Sean McLoughlin is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Leeds working in the fields of Islamic studies and anthropology of religion, and teaching on Muslims, multiculturalism and citizenship. He is author of the forthcoming book, Representing Muslims: Religion, Ethnicity and the Politics of Identity (Pluto Press, 2007) and co-editor (with J. Cesari) of European Muslims and the Secular State (Aldershot, Ashgate, 2005) and many articles on British Muslims, Islam in Europe, and South Asian studies. His recent article on Migration, diaspora and transnationalism: transformations of religion and culture in a globalizing age is the final chapter in the Routledge Companion to the Study of Religion. He is Principal Investigator of the AHRC network, From Diaspora to Multi-Locality: Writing British Asian Cities, and co-convenor of the Muslims in Britain Research Network. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/trs/staff/sean_mcloughlin.htm

IntroductionPart I: Concepts and theoriesExile
Nation, nationalism and citizenship
Migration
Subjectivity, identity and hybridity
Ethnicity and community
Globalization and transnationalism
Slavery and the Black Atlantic
Colonial and postcolonial studies
CosmopolitanismPart II: IntersectionsDiasporas, history and tradition
Diasporas and politics
Diasporas, society and class
Diasporas and religion
Diasporas and space
Diasporas and language
Diasporas, media and representation
Diasporas and gender
Diasporas and sexuality
Diasporas, trade and the economy
Diasporas and security
Diasporas and visual culture
Diasporas and material culture
Diasporas, literature and narrativity
Diasporas and performativity
Diasporas and cyberspacePart III: Key DiasporasThe Jewish diaspora
The Irish diaspora
The African American diaspora
The Zoroastrian diaspora
The Armenian diasporaWhite colonial migrations
Latin American diasporas (sending and receiving)
The Chinese diaspora (a trade diaspora)
The Muslim diaspora (a religious diaspora)
The Greek diaspora (going and returning)Seekers of asylum: Africa into Europe
Diasporic movements within Europe
The diasporic circulation of women domestic workers
Transcultural movements of artists and/or musiciansPart IV: New DirectionsMobility and circulation
Contact zones
Scenes
Conviviality
Transculturation
Creolisation
SingularityFull bibliographyIndex