The Paradox(es) of Diasporic Identity, Race, and Belonging

Abstract

This chapter introduces the theme of the paradox(es) of diasporic identity as it relates to notions of belonging, placemaking, migration, and transnational citizenship. It explores these notions within complex local and globalizing processes and the “nervous conditions” that these create for the “migrant” in constant search of a home. The chapter questions the definitiveness with which notions of home and belonging have been framed in the discourses on race, migration, and social relationships, and calls for new ways of narrativizing life on the different boundaries where human relations intersect. The contributors of the volume are all from higher education, reflecting on their own experiences of migration, home, and belonging.