One last time: what’s diaspora? According to Ien Ang, it is any group with a “history of dispersion”, including a wide variety of categories such as immigrant, refugee, expatriate, guest worker, and more (Ang 286). It is a group that suffers not only past, but also present trauma in the form of alienation from home/host lands. Despite facing this alienation, the diaspora moves “between” nation-state borders (Ang 289), engaging with empowerment alongside victimization. Furthermore, Ang argues something that I find very intriguing, which is the very essence of diaspora is the “unsettling of (national) identities” that also unsettles the idea of Asia (Ang 288). My younger cousins who immigrated from South Korea just last year are beginning to grapple with the same diasporic issues while crammed in my family’s rural home. Already, I can see them constantly negotiating who they are and how they have to act in California. I hope they learn enough English and I learn enough Korean to better communicate what I’ve learned on diasporas.
Question: Could the diaspora's movement between nations actually be a form of inclusion in said nation-states?
Works Cited:
Ien Ang. “Beyond 'Asian Diaspora'.” Asian Diasporas.
Image Source: Anna Pak, ripped Asia and America in half on sticky note = social construction.
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