This seminar is hosted by the International Migration Institute

Summary: Diasporas are not what they used to be. The term was once reserved for a few extraordinary groups that had managed to maintain coherence and commitment to a homeland despite the traumatic dispersion of their forebears. But now it seems that diasporas are springing up everywhere, conjured into existence by states of origin eager either to seize on such commitments, or to engineer them from scratch. The emigrant–homeland relationship underpinning the concept of diaspora has therefore shifted, and in order to understand and explain the nature of diasporas in the modern world, it is now necessary to examine the role of origin states in their formation and persistence. Using new comparative data on 213 countries and territories, alongside some 20 in-depth case studies, this lecture examines how, and more importantly why, states are ‘engaging their diasporas’.

Speaker: Dr Alan Gamlen, Research Associate, International Migration Institute and Lecturer, School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University Wellington

Please ensure that you register for this event by emailing ann.cowie@qeh.ox.ac.uk