This book explores the transformation and reinvention of conflict-generated diaspora groups’ politics in countries of residence. Numerous narratives link diasporas and conflicts: diasporas are seen alternatively as peace wreckers or peace makers, as products of forced migration related to conflicts, or as targets of securitization policies. “Transported conflicts” occurring within and between diasporas in their countries of residence, however, remain relatively underexplored, tend to be misunderstood, and often associated with “criminal” or “terrorist” activities.
The chapters in this volume draw our attention to various interconnected temporalities explaining patterns of conflict transportation, such as the temps long of diasporic mobilisation, the here and now of what is happening in both host and home countries, and micro-temporalities and diasporans’ life trajectories. Finally, the contributions demonstrate that patterns, shapes and even occurrence of conflict transportation vary according to scale and space. Highly politicized forms of confrontation are not necessarily representative of everyday interactions between diaspora groups, which can entail discrete but tangible forms of cooperation and even solidarity. This edited volume calls for nuancing our approach to the links between diasporas and conflicts, to avoid falling into the essentialisation trap.
The chapters in this book were originally published in Ethnopolitics.
Introduction—Diasporas and Transportation of Homeland Conflicts: Inter-group Dynamics and Host-Country Responses 1. Pathways to Conflict Transportation and Autonomisation: The Armenian Diaspora and the Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh 2. Autonomising Conflict: Conflict Transportation in Online Activity among Kurdish and Turkish Diasporas in Denmark 3. Sri Lankan Diasporas between Participation and Conflict: Intergroup Dynamics in Italy 4. Conflicted Identities: Negotiating Belonging among Young People from the Lebanese Diasporas in Montreal 5. Diaspora Memory Conflicts: Struggles over Genocide Commemoration, Recognition and Denial 6. Cypriot Youth Views Matter: Comparison of Diaspora and Islander Youth’s Views on Peace 7. A People In-Between: Examining Indicators of Collective Identity among Georgian Azeri-Turks 8. The Awakening of a Latent Diaspora: The Political Mobilization of First and Second Generation Turkish Migrants in Sweden 9. Identity and Integration of Russian Speakers in the Baltic States: A Framework for Analysis 10. Diasporas, Remittances and State Fragility: Assessing the Linkages 11. Divided Nationhood and Multiple Membership: A Framework for Assessing Kin-State Policies and Their Impact
Élise Féron is a Docent and Senior Research Fellow at the Tampere Peace Research Institute, Tampere University, Finland. Bahar Baser is Associate Professor at Durham University's School of Government and International Affairs, UK.
