Nauja Kleist

In the Name of Diaspora: Between Struggles for Recognition and Political Aspirations

Since the early 1990s, the concept of diaspora has propagated in migration studies and gradually been appropriated by many migrant groups, who describe themselves as ‘diasporas’ in relation to political mobilisation and self-portrayal. In this article, claims made in the name of diaspora and their conditions for possibility are analysed through a focus on Somali migration. Two main arguments are presented. Firstly, that the identity category of ‘the Somali diaspora’ is constituted between marginalisation and invocations of a transnationally committed community, dedicated to the development of the homeland. Secondly, that the proliferation of diaspora claims can be understood as part of a broader societal development where migrant groups are seen as potential political actors. On the one hand, it is suggested this relates to the so-called ‘recognition turn’ where potential political legitimacy is ascribed to social struggles driven by experiences of misrecognition or marginalisation, making ‘diasporas’ possible political actors—as minorities. On the other hand, there is a global tendency in policy circles to refer to ‘diasporas’ as either dangerous or constructive agents of change in their erstwhile homelands, implying a focus on transnational resources and agency. The article argues that together these tendencies form favourable conditions for diaspora identification, drawing on two repertoires of rights and political action which can be used in different instances of political mobilisation.

Mobilising ‘The Diaspora’: Somali Transnational Political Engagement

Recently, the development initiatives of so-called ‘diasporas’ have gained the attention of policy-makers, scholars, NGOs, and migrants themselves. Migrants and ‘diasporas’ are seen as agents of development, who not only remit money to their countries of origin, but also transfer ideas of political, social, and cultural change. This article examines linkages between identity, transnational politics and development. Logics of transnational mobilisation and loyalties are analysed through a case study of a Somali transnational conference, paying particular attention to tensions between lineage affiliation and regional identification. At the conference, the establishment of trust between different transnational actors was seen as an important step towards reconciliation and development. Framing the event as ‘a meeting between intellectuals’ and as ‘the diaspora’, conference participants were positioned as agents of development and change. The article argues that ‘diaspora position’ is thereby linked to questions of identity, the recognition of status, and the enactment of proper and respectable masculinity.

Negotiating Respectable Masculinity: Gender and Recognition in the Somali Diaspora

Following years of civil war, many Somalis are displaced in Western countries as refugees or family re-unified persons. This situation has caused multiple losses of social position and upheavals in gender relations. Although both men and women are subject to these changes, Somalis describe the situations of men as more difficult. Taking departure in multi-sited fieldwork in Copenhagen, Somaliland and London, this article explores how Somalis negotiate respectable masculinity in the Diaspora, arguing that men’s difficulties are articulated as a transfer of male authority to the welfare state, reflecting female empowerment and male misrecognition. However, the focus on men’s loss can also be understood as processes of positioning and of re-instituting a ‘traditional’ gender baseline in which the positions of respectable versus failed masculinity are established. Finally, the article argues that Somali men negotiate and enact respectable masculinity through associational and community involvement, creating alternative social spaces of recognition.

Introduction: Agents of Change? Staging and Governing Diasporas and the African State

During the last decade, African diasporas have emerged as agents of change in international development thinking. Diasporas are being courted by donors, sending states, and NGOs for their contributions to development in their countries of origin; praised for their remittances, investments and knowledge transfer. This Introduction seeks to scrutinise critically these processes, examining issues of governance and categorisation in relation to African states and diasporas. We explore the theoretical and political implications of the emergence of diasporas in relation to questions of hybridity, state responses, neoliberalism, depoliticisation, and mistrust. We thereby aim to establish an analytical framework that focuses on how various actors stage, govern, and seek to instrumentalise so-called diaspora involvement. Two central questions arise: Are we witnessing an anti-politics machine in the sense of making development a matter of how to involve diasporas and build their human and organisational capacities? Or are there means by which diasporas may re-politicise development issues in the home country?

Introduction: Hope over Time—Crisis, Immobility and Future-Making

ABSTRACT This introduction discusses the hope boom in anthropological studies, suggesting that it reflects two converging developments: a sense of increasing unpredictability and crisis, and a sense of lack of political and ideological direction in this situation. We further identify two overall trends in the anthropological literature gathered under the rubric of hope: an emphasis on hopefulness against all odds and one on specific formations of hope and temporal reasoning.

Flexible Politics of Belonging: Diaspora Mobilisation in Ghana

This article analyses how the Ghanaian state has been involved in diaspora mobilisation since independence, including both the so-called African and Ghanaian diasporas. It presents two overall arguments. Firstly, the article shows that Ghanaian diaspora mobilisation draws upon the legacy of mid-century political Pan-Africanism, though with a neoliberal focus from the 1990s. From the 2000s, this legacy merges with the global trend of diaspora-development policies and their emphasis on contributions to national development, both in relation to African and Ghanaian diaspora mobilisation. Secondly, the article argues that while the various diaspora mobilisation efforts have resulted in limited policy changes and rights, they have value as political spectacles where the state demonstrates its interest in diaspora groups. Likewise, they are expressions of bio-politics and constitute opportunities for the state to assert its sovereignty. Finally, the article claims that diaspora mobilisation efforts constitute flexible and ambivalent politics of belonging, based on an inherent tension between long-distance autochthony claims and the states focus on (mainly) economic resource mobilisation.