Diaspora, Identity and Religion

Over the last decade, concepts of diaspora and locality have gained complex new meanings in political discourse as well as in social and cultural studies. Diaspora, in particular, has acquired new meanings related to notions such as global deterritorialization, transnational migration and cultural hybridity.
This evolution seems to imply that locality is no longer a relevant point of reference for collective identities. This book, however argues that locality has not lost its meaning entirely. It claims that, although diasporas transcend boundaries, they remain sited and space and place thus remain important points of reference. Diaspora and locality, rather than being opposed or contradictory, are interrelated.
The authors discuss the key concepts and theory, focus on the meaning of religion both as a factor in forming diasporic social organisations, as well as shaping and maintaining diasporic identities, and the appropriation of space and place in history. It includes up to date research of the Caribbean, Irish, Armenian, African and Greek diasporas.

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Table of contents : Introduction - Waltraud Kokot, Khachig Tölölyan and Carolin Alfonso
Deconstructing and Comparing Diasporas - William Safran
Diasporic Spatiality and the Question of Identity - Avtar Brah
Part 1: Identity Politics, History and Locality
'Too close for comfort' - Re-membering the forgotten diaspora of Irish women in England - Breda Gray
Place, Movement and Identity: Processes of Inclusion and Exclusion in a 'Caribbean' Family - Karen Fog Olwig
Why Locality Matters - Diaspora Consciousness and Sedentariness in the AmericanDiaspora in Greece - Susanne Schwalgin
Past and Present in the History of Modern Greek Diaspora - Ioannis K. Hassiotis
Griots, Roots and Identity in the African Diaspora - Hauke Dorsch
The Invention of History in the Irish American Diaspora: Myths of the Great Famine - Astrid Wonneberger
Part Two - Diasporic Aspects of Religion
Religion or Culture? Concepts of Identity in the Alevi Diaspora - Martin Sökefeld
A Double Minority: Notes on the Emerging Yezidi Diaspora - Andreas Ackermann
A Diachronic View at Diaspora, the Significance of Religion and the Hindu Trinidadians - Martin Baumann
They Prayed in Brazil and it Rained in Boston: Dominican and Brazilian Transnational Religious Life - Peggy Levitt
Let it Flow - Economy, Spirituality and Gender in the Sindhi Network - Dieter Haller