GEB 206           Global Culture and Citizenship

Part V: Diaspora

 

1. “Migrant” / “Diaspora”?(移民/離散者)

1.1. Conventional view of migration

1.1.1. Pulling factors and pushing factors: moving from one place to another

1.1.2. Brain drain

1.1.3. Cultural assimilation

1.2. Diaspora

1.2.1. A group of people belonging to and aliening from the sending and receiving places

1.2.2. Diaspora as a phenomenon of cultural construction and innovation

1.2.3. The concept of diaspora opens up a new perspective for understanding human geographical mobility

 

2. Some characteristics of diaspora

2.1. A diaspora is defined as the collective forced dispersion of a religious and/ or ethnic group (but what is “forced dispersion”? Is the group ethnically homogeneous?)

2.2. A diaspora is defined by the people’s collective memory which transmits historical facts and myths explaining their dispersion and cultural heritage.

2.3. A diaspora pursues to maintain its heritage and preserves its identity.

2.4. Connecting with “home” and desiring for new “home”

2.5. Negotiating a new space in exile

 

2. Case study I: Abode seeker in Hong Kong 爭取居留權人士

2.1. The assumptions behind the notion of “social burden”:

2.1.1. People are viewed as physical “objects” adding burden to “Hong Kong”.

2.1.2. People only consume rather than produce economic resources

2.1.3. The migration of mainlanders is “one-way street”: from mainland to Hong Kong

2.1.4. Are the assumptions mentioned above true or sustained?

2.2. Historical background: Cold War, political upheaval, economic disparity, cultural divergence, … …

Example:

1935                 陳先生在惠安出生。

1950年代          在福建晉江生活。

1962                 結婚，後來育有三女一子。

1973                 在菲律賓的父親寫信回鄉，叫他到菲律賓謀生，他隻身到菲律賓。

1970年代中       由菲律賓回香港。

1976年                            申請妻子及子女來港。

1982年                            妻子與兒子來港，三個女兒不被批准，留在晉江。

1983年                            大女兒結婚。

1983-1998         大女兒生了兩個小孩。       

1998年底          持雙程證來港。

1999年初          終審法院裁定，港人內地所生子女有居港權，大女兒留港爭取。

…. ….

2.3. Connections with home in Hong Kong and mainland

2.4. Desire for a new home in Hong Kong

 

3. Case Study 2: Migrant worker or peasant worker in China民工

3.1. Household registration戶口登記制度: rural / urban

3.2. Unequal economic development: coastal vs. interior / urban vs. rural

3.3. The flow of migrant workers contributes to making the fast-growing urban world in China, such as the Pearl River Delta.

3.4. Migrant workers are transforming their rural villages as well.

3.5. They are “trapped” between their urban village and the coastal cities.  They are wandering between their rural home and the cities.

3.6. They are creating Tongxiang relations in their diasporic life.

 

4. Diaspora’s spaces

4.1. Diaspora is creating a border-crossing world.

4.2. Diaspora is putting space in flux and bringing new products, lifestyles, values and physical changes to different places.

4.3. Diaspora is connecting places all over the world.