15. Diaspora

“Diaspora studies,” conducted across a range of social science disciplines, have been growing in importance over the past decades. Concerned that the word was at risk of losing its meaning because the “diaspora” was used to refer to concepts as diverse as (inward or outward) migration, (lower- or higher-skilled) guest-work or expatriate placement, refugees and others, Brubaker in 2005 identified three characteristics that indicate whether a person is a member of a diaspora: There has to be geographic dispersion, the presence of a “a real or imagined ‘homeland’ as an authoritative source of values, identity and loyalty,” and active “boundary-maintenance,” i.e., an insistence on a distinct identity relative to the host country.