Week 11 Blog: Winnie Chen

With the idea of diaspora and transnationalism, it is important to remember that even though there is a specific definition for the term “diaspora,” it does not limit what diaspora can become. Diaspora exists in the transnational context which keeps a community connected to their homeland origins, therefore, diaspora can change when homeland values or culture changes; diaspora itself too changes depending on the environment where it is located, such as class and wealth. From Regina Lee’s Theorizing Diasporas: Three Types of Consciousness, she argues that “diasporic communities tend to exhibit, broadly, three main types of psychological states, or forms of consciousness, which are: idealization of homeland, boutique multicultural manifestations, and transitional/transformational identity politics” (Lee 53). The process of mobility is closely tied to “economic materialities of diaspora because it can either facilitate or impair movement or migration” (Lee 54). Given Lee’s argument, the degree to which these forms of consciousness’s occur is tied to the level of success that one is able to migrate. Successful migration leads to a smaller idealization, manifestation, and politics because high success results in greater access to the homeland. On the other hand, unsuccessful migration results in a larger consciousness because the isolation and alienation away from the homeland pulls these individuals closer to the homeland.

Question: How do these three types of consciousness impact the “assimilated” individuals in the diaspora? Does it make an impact?

Works Cited:

“Theorizing Diasporas: Three Types of Consciousness.” Asian Diasporas: Cultures, Identities, Representations. Ed. Robbie Goh and Shawn Wong. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2004. Online.

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