Abstract: This article examines the ideological-political transformation of first-generation Kurdish political refugees from Iranian/Eastern Kurdistan (Rojhelat) with leftist political backgrounds, now residing in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and France. It explores how their ethno-national identity and leftist ideology, situated within the Kurdish diaspora, shape their political orientation in their host countries. The study is based on twenty-six in-depth interviews with current and former members of the offshoots of the Iranian Kurdistan Toilers’ Revolutionary Association ( Komalay Shoreshgeri Zahmatkeshani Kurdistani Eran, or Komala). Findings indicate that exposure to a European political-ideological atmosphere has shifted their stance from authoritarian to libertarian leftism, strengthening the role of Kurdish identity in their political attitude and orientation and fostering a balance between their ethnic and ideological affiliations. Beyond advocating for the Kurdish diaspora, their political engagement in Europe serves as a form of transnational lobbying to influence European countries’ politics regarding Kurdish rights in their country of origin.
Due to its proximity, thousands of Singaporeans travel to the city of Johor Bahru in Peninsula Malaysia, especially over weekends or public holidays. In recent years, growing numbers of Singaporeans have also acquired homes in Johor Bahru. Based on ethnographic observation and interviews, this article proposes possible explanations for this. Reasons include the lower cost of living in Johor Bahru, a needed respite from the demands of everyday life in Singapore, and the recognition of Johor Bahru's borderlands as an option for residency, investment, and retirement. A key factor rests in a growing sense of precarity among Singaporeans entrenched in a geographically small, fast-paced, and highly competitive society. Residence or regular commutes to Johor Bahru represent a strategy to manage and negotiate these challenges, enabling Singaporeans to realize alternate narratives of success and definitions of well-being. Finally, we propose the concept of space-time capital to better articulate and understand the growing Singaporean presence in Johor Bahru's borderlands.
This article examines the integration of feminist consciousness and diasporic Armenian identity through an ethnographic and auto-ethnographic study of Armenian Feminists, a Boston-based American Armenian collective founded in 1993. Drawing on the group's history and structure, participant observation, analysis of ritual practice, and focus group interviews conducted in 2024, the study foregrounds how group members, who came to feminist consciousness as young women in the United States, have forged a counterpublic space that can integrate their diasporic Armenian identity with their feminist beliefs. I argue that the group cultivates a feminist diasporic positionality that reclaims Armenian traditions while interrogating their gendered hierarchies, demonstrating how Armenianness and feminism are mutually animating. This case contributes to transnational feminist theory by illustrating how localized ritual and communal practices can produce diasporic feminist formations that challenge both nationalist essentialisms and exclusions of US mainstream feminism.
The Assyrian nation, indigenous to modern-day Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey, was first forced into diaspora following the WWI-era genocide (the Seyfo) committed by the Ottoman Empire, in which an estimated 250,000 Assyrians were massacred, and tens of thousands of survivors were prevented from returning to what became the Republic of Turkey. Successive waves of persecution, violence, and ethnic cleansing over the following century further contributed to Assyrian flight from their homeland states, and ultimately the formation of diaspora communities in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe. In this article, we explore how diasporic memory agents utilize social media to make visible the still largely forgotten and marginalized Assyrian Genocide amongst the diaspora, in kinship with other communities that survived Ottoman genocide, and to the general public. Our study examines the use of social media, specifically Twitter (X) and Facebook, leading up to and on Assyrian Remembrance Day (also known as Assyrian Martyrs Day) on 7 August and Seyfo Remembrance Day (which also commemorates the start of the Armenian Genocide) on 24 April. Narratives of loss and resilience, alongside calls for recognition, help to shape a collective memory across the diverse and multi-generational diaspora, positioning genocide remembrance as a core pillar of Assyrian national memory. Such work also serves to institutionalize genocide remembrance with what we call networked memory work, the strategic use of social media networks by memory agents to transmit the memories and historical narratives of their group to outside organizations, individuals, and institutions so that those outside networks also become carriers of the group's memory, helping to navigate the diaspora through its trauma processing, a process we posit is still incomplete.
This article reveals how Cherokees are reconnecting with rivers. The following analysis draws from Cherokee cosmo-epistemologies, posthumanism, and the methodological agility of ethnohistory, to argue that members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) are encouraging Cherokees at home in Southern Appalachia and in the diaspora to do as their ancestors did: be attentive to, and care for, a local uweyv (river), uweyvi (stream), immokalee (waterfall or tumbling water), or ama ganugogv (spring). By returning to the river —or “going to water” —Cherokees at home in the mountain South and those living in the diaspora can unite in recognizing that ama gvnida (water is life). Today, in an age of climate crisis, Cherokees are forming partnerships with non-Cherokee scientists to reclaim spiritual and scientific connections to the riverine ecosystems that their ancestors saw as central to cosmocentric understandings of the world. This reclamation is not without its cautionary tales, but in returning to the river Cherokees are working to help riparian spaces thrive so that Cherokees seven generations into the future will inherit healthy, life-giving waterways.
This article offers a sociological exploration of the experiences of LGBTQI Ukrainian migrants in queering the Ukrainian diaspora following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Employing Vertovec's (1997) conceptualization of diaspora as both a social form and a type of consciousness, a study was conducted involving twelve in-depth, semi-structured interviews with LGBTQI Ukrainian migrants to examine their engagements with Ukrainian diasporic communities and spaces, as well as their embodiment of diasporic consciousness. Next, the study analyzed how their LGBTQI identities influenced these engagements and whether their experiences can be considered a successful queering of the diaspora. The findings revealed that participants frequently encountered challenges in queering the diaspora as a social form, referring to the creation of queer spaces within, or outside of, the established ethno-cultural diasporic communities, due to the invisibility and underrepresentation of LGBTQI identities within these spaces. However, participants exhibited a distinctly queer diasporic consciousness, characterized by a positive identification with their homeland that was shaped by both their ethno-cultural and sexual/gender identities. In this regard, this article enhances academic understanding of the experiences of LGBTQI Ukrainians, a largely understudied group, and highlights a greater diversity in how LGBTQI migrants may engage with, and queer, diasporas. It argues that diasporas may be queered not only through the creation of physical queer spaces but also through the integration of intersectional identities that shape mental states of belonging.
This article engages with the history of the so-called Danube Swabians from the eighteenth century up to the present as a history of multiple diasporic possibilities. Showing how the Danube Swabian case complicates fixed understandings of homeland and host-state, the article also makes the case that the history of Germans abroad—especially of Germans in the Southeast of Europe—should be released from the tight analytical straitjacket of the German nation-state and/or of the host-states in the Southeast of Europe. A closer look at the migration processes underlying and informing Danube Swabian identifications reveals that the homeland has only at times been imagined as the German nation-state and that several other regional entities and nation-states have been considered potential homelands and points of reference. Moreover, the ‘return’ to the Federal Republic of Germany did not unmake the diaspora. Hence, this article invites a reassessment of the frames of reference typically used for engaging with Germans abroad in the past and in the present. It indicates that diasporic analyses should think of key characteristics of the diasporic condition, such as orientation to the homeland and representations of dispersion, as elastic and in flux.
This article examines the complex nature of exchanges within social, political, and cultural remittances between Armenian migrants living abroad and their families and communities of origin. By focusing on both household and community levels, it highlights a two-way process: transfers from migrants to their home communities and, conversely, from these communities back to the migrants. Using examples from regions with different migration policies and economic conditions, including Russia, Europe, the United States, and Canada, the study provides a comprehensive view of these exchanges. Challenging the view of non-migrants as passive recipients, the article advocates for greater attention to the roles and experiences of non-migrants in transnational migration studies. By investigating the flow and influence of social remittances—ideas, practices, and social norms exchanged across borders—the study reveals how non-migrants participate in shaping transnational social ties. Moreover, we look at these connections from the perspective of migrants' integration into host societies. We argue that non-migrants not only receive but also send back social remittances, thereby influencing both their local and diaspora communities. This perspective highlights the transformative impact of transnational ties, not only for migrants but also for the broader community networks involved in these cross-border exchanges.
This article examines Armenian artistic and cultural practitioners’ uses of memory-mapping to create representational spaces in book form that challenge hegemonic national representations of territories with multiple, conflicted histories. Such mappings often draw on cartographic documents, but the projects discussed here reflect a broader definition of mapping as process. Vigen Galstyan and Nelli Shishmanyan's (2020) project Before the Crossfire. After the Wall provides a photographic record of everyday life in Armenian villages whose Azerbaijani populations have left since 1991 and tensions over Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) and Georgian villages where both ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijanis still co-exist. The NGO Cultural and Social Narratives Laboratory's project Firdus: Memory of a Place collects family stories, photographs, and documents from the multicultural residents of a central Yerevan street of around eighty houses. Our interpretations of these projects demonstrate that they employ artistic and cultural mapping practices in book form to recover memories of ethnic coexistence in Armenia; community memories that have been marginalized in the wake of three decades of conflict. The multimedial approaches to memory-mapping (oral histories, maps, social media, archival and original photographs) adopted by these texts offer a set of tools for the mapping of community memory. However, from an agonistic perspective, we argue that these tools could also be used to document the historical conditions that precipitated the collapse of coexistence. To this end, we analyze NGO Hazarashen's 2019 project Fragments of Armenia's Soviet Past: Tracing Armenian-Azerbaijani Coexistence to better understand how memory-mapping in book form can engage with political processes that facilitate the breakdown of coexistence.
This article explores the sense of belonging in the Republic of Armenia since the 2020 44-day war between Azerbaijan and Armenia among young working-age Armenians who were born in the country and newcomers from Syria (since the start of the Syrian War in 2011) and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). The article focuses on the complexity of belonging in Armenia, examining both attachment to the physical territory of the Republic of Armenia and to a broader symbolic, transnational Armenian identity. This exploration is situated within both national and international contexts, as the experiences of young Armenians are shaped not only by local factors but also by their connections to the Armenian diaspora and broader factors affecting global migration, notably the wars in Syria, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Ukraine. This sociological study contributes to diaspora and return migration literature by employing a mixed-methods approach, including surveys, interviews, and focus groups. Its intersectional and transnational perspective compares the experiences of local Armenians with displaced people from Artsakh (Artsakhtsis) and Syrian-Armenians, while also acknowledging differences that reflect national origin, age, and gender. Our findings highlight distinct expressions of belonging across these different groups, and notably tensions between newcomers’ self-identities and others’ perceptions of them, as they try to reconcile their own sense of belonging to a symbolic or “imagined” national community with the realities of life in the Republic of Armenia. While locals and displaced people from Artsakh (Artsakhtsis) feel more “at home,” Syrian-Armenians face greater challenges to feeling that they belong. At the same time, we found that all groups consider symbolic markers of Armenian identity, including self-identification, language, and cultural heritage, to be more important than physical or primordial markers such as ancestry or place of birth, though local Armenians place relatively more importance on the latter than Syrian or Artsakhtsi newcomers. Overall, respondents who strongly identified with Armenia as their permanent home tended to view the country more positively than those who did not, emphasizing its welcoming nature and capacity to address socio-economic challenges. By examining belonging among young people in Armenia, newcomers and locals, and exploring how national, ethnic, and socio-demographic factors shape their attachment within both local and international contexts, this article contributes to migration and diaspora studies conceptually, methodologically, and empirically.
The application of postcolonial theory to former Soviet socialist republics is much debated. For Tlostanova (2012) , Western theorizations of colonialism consign former Soviet socialist republics, including Armenia, to an undifferentiated void, not fully part of the Global North or South. Spivak's (2008) discussion of the Armenian case highlights the inability of conceptualizations of colonialism focused on the nation-state to account for the imperial forces at work in the Caucasus. She argues instead for the potential of a non-ethnic, critical regionalism underlining local and highly specific histories. Tlostanova (2012) and others meanwhile have called for the development of more decolonial approaches drawing on Southern epistemologies and broader, intersectional explorations of national identity in relation to the Caucasus and other regions of the former Soviet East. In this article, we contribute to these debates by reassessing how well postcolonial analyses can illuminate complex global power relations and identity formations in the Republic of Armenia. Furthermore, we explore the relevance of these theories to different groups resident there. The first section focuses on postcolonial theory and explores different periods of Armenian history and their legacies in terms of colonialism. The second section explores the (little) everyday salience of these theories to residents of a country dominated since independence by war with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), drawing on a research project on migration to and from Armenia carried out in the early 2020s and led by the first author. The third section discusses potential theoretical ways forward and uses for theories of post and decoloniality in such complex and unstable circumstances. The experience and multiple viewpoints of Armenia's diverse internal diasporan communities—particularly those in Armenia since the Syrian, Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), and Ukraine wars—are threaded throughout.
Studies of return migration often focus on the integration of second-generation people from diasporan groups because their experience and expectations can differ greatly from those prevalent in their home country. Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the number of people returning to Armenia has accelerated and may be sustained for some time. This article examines the narratives surrounding the repatriation of young Armenian women from the Russian Federation, which hosts the largest contemporary Armenian diaspora, and their experiences of reintegration into Armenian society. The study is based on interviews with Armenians from Russia, conducted in person in Yerevan and Moscow as well as online, during the winter of 2022 to the summer of 2023. The article aims to contribute to a better understanding of the complex experience of second-generation Armenian returnees. This group is often assumed to have a good knowledge of the Armenian language because of their ethnic origin. However, after more than three decades of intensive out-migration to Russia, the Russian Armenian diaspora includes many young people who were born in Russia (so-called second-generation migrants) or who arrived in childhood and grew up in migrant families, often facing considerable xenophobia. Furthermore, many children start school in Russian towns and cities, followed by periods in Armenia and its education system, after which they may return to Russia. As such, these young people's knowledge of Armenian culture can vary greatly and very often they do not acquire (a good level of) their native (Armenian) language. The issue of language, along with different behavioral norms—primarily gender-based—and communication styles, leads to barriers for repatriate women in Armenian society. Experiences of war have acted as catalysts for migration decisions, leading respondents to reevaluate their identities and connection to homeland. Many felt caught between their Armenian and Russian identities, not fully accepted in either place. Repatriation is a challenging and fluid process for them, with many finding themselves in-between cultures, leading to a hybrid ethnic identity that influences their sense of belonging and future plans. Despite some of them deciding to go elsewhere after living in Armenia, their connection to Armenia remains strong, and their experiences reflect the dynamic nature of transnational mobility rather than a straightforward integration.
In November 2021, Glen Youngkin, a Republican candidate, won the election for governor of Virginia. For many Virginians, his win was a surprise, especially since President Donald Trump had endorsed him. For Ethiopian communities, the election results were the outcome of months of lobbying and organizing due to their dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party leadership. This development highlights the direct consequences of US foreign policy on its domestic political environment, especially regarding issues ethnic communities care about and how they can influence democratic processes. In this line, this study investigates the relationships between host and homeland political rhetoric and the importance of understanding the political power of diaspora-based conflict communities. Using narrative inquiry, I analyzed the reasons behind the 2020 voting trends among Ethiopian communities in Virginia. For Ethiopian Americans, the ongoing war in the Tigray region, as well as the mainstream media and US government's framing of who is the victim and who is the perpetrator, demonstrates an unwillingness to engage with Ethiopian scholars and practitioners as well as a lack of historical and political understanding coming from the US government. In this polarized time, Americans cannot ignore the direct impact of foreign policy on domestic institutions and how immigrants contribute, through voting, to the election of public servants, including presidents and states representatives.
