Diaspora as Translation and Decolonisation

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Description

This innovative study engages critically with existing conceptualisations of diaspora, arguing that if diaspora is to have analytical purchase, it should illuminate a specific angle of migration or migrancy.

To reveal the much-needed transformative potential of the concept, the book looks specifically at how diasporas undertake translation and decolonisation. While drawing on various examples, it provides a detailed empirical study of the Kurdish diaspora in Europe and unpacks how Kurds carry out ethno-political translations of their struggle, including undoing colonisation, foreignisation and domestication in their engagements with the global north.

Reviews

With a focus on the distinct but related concepts of translation and decolonisation, this book provides a novel approach to the study of diaspora. Here diaspora is understood as a transnational intervention producing spatial and temporal connections that critique nation-centric discourses and practices. Theoretically embedded, it is a rich empirical analysis of the Kurdish diaspora in Europe. An original contribution to the field of diaspora studies.
Avtar Brah, Professor Emerita, Birkbeck College, University of London

'This book decisively shifts the focus from what diasporas are to what they do. While primarily focusing on the intriguing case of the Kurds, the author powerfully demonstrates how diasporas create new identities and shape the processes of decolonisation. In so doing, they transform a groups consciousness and trajectory.'
Robin Cohen, Professor Emeritus of Development Studies, University of Oxford

'Ipek Demir's meticulously crafted Diaspora as translation and decolonisation reminds us that conceptualizations of diasporas should serve a corrective role to colonization, instead of producing intellectual spaces that benefit existing privilege in the Global North and Global South. [...] should be classified as essential reading for every graduate student and researcher with an interest in race and ethnicity, diaspora studies, and decolonization.'
Vera Eccarius-Kelly, Politics, Religion & Ideology (August 2022)

Author Bio

Ipek Demir is Professor of Diaspora Studies at the University of Leeds