The Basic Assumption in McLeod’s Diaspora Identities

             Course 3: Literature, Exile and the Diaspora

Term Paper

The Basic Assumption of McLeod’s

Diaspora Identities

Session 2015-2016

Submitted to:                                                                        Submitted by:

Dr. Rupinder Kaur                                                     Navreet Sidhu

Department of English                                                                      Ph.D. coursework

Punjabi University Patiala                                                                 Roll No: 1512201

Navreet Sidhu

Dr. Rupinder Kaur

Ph.D. Coursework - 1512201

22 December 2015

                                      The Basic Assumption in McLeod’s Diaspora identities

                The term ‘Diaspora’ can be traced back over the centuries through its usage and significance has varied over the years. In its long history, the term has been associated with displacement, migration, and dispersal. Diaspora can be interpreted based on where they live and not only where they come from.  In 1991 William Safran shared some of the characteristics of the term ‘diaspora’ communities which are as follows:

1. The original community from a homeland in two or more countries; they are bound from their disparate geographical locations by a common vision, memory or myth about their homelands;
2. They have a belief that they will never be accepted by their host societies and, therefore, develop their autonomous cultural and social needs;
3. They or their descendants will return to the homeland should the conditions prove favorable;
4. They should continue to maintain support for homeland and therefore, the communal consciousness and solidarity enables them to continue these activities. (Safran 1991, 83-4).

When a group or community migrate internationally in search of work or for various other reasons it is evolved as the Diaspora. ‘Diaspora’ derived from the Greek word ‘speiro’ (‘to sow’ or ‘to disperse’) implies dispersion, scattering from homeland to an altogether new world. According to Shain and Barth (2003), Diaspora is:

                 “ A person with a common origin who reside, more or less on a permanent basis, outside the borders of their ethnic or religious homeland, whether that homeland is real or symbolic, independent or under foreign control. Diaspora members identify themselves, or are identified by others – inside and outside their homeland – as part of the homeland’s national community, and as such are often called upon to participate, or are entangled, in homeland – related affairs. (p.452).