Diaspora and Citizenship

This collection of papers discusses the impact of diasporas on the articulations and practices of legal, political, cultural and social citizenship in their country of origin. While the majority of current citizenship debates focus on the challenges and directions in which diasporic and migrant communities impact on the citizenship regime in their country of settlement, the papers in this volume approach the study of citizenship from the perspective of the link between the sending state and its diasporic communities abroad. The papers discuss the role of language, religion, kinship, and other ethnic markers in diaspora politics and trace their implications for the articulations and practices of citizenship. Through discussing cases across political and geographical spectrums, and from different historical epochs the book broadens and enriches the debate on citizenship by demonstrating important ways in which diasporas impact on the delineation of citizenship regimes and the politics of national identity in their homeland.

This links to the continued use of language as an ethnic marker, but also one which may be learned, allowing a certain degree of choice and shifting affiliations amongst putative members of a diaspora.

This book was published as a special issue of Nationalism and Ethnic Politics.

1. Diaspora and Citizenship: Introduction Elena Barabantseva and Claire Sutherland 2. Making of Greece Abroad: Continuity and Change in the Modern Diaspora Politics of a "Historical" Irredentist Homeland Elpida Vogli 3. Experimenting with Diasporic Incorporation: The Overseas Citizenship of India Constantino Xavier 4. Russia and Post-Soviet "Russian Diaspora": Contrasting Visions, Conflicting Projects Natalya Kosmarskaya 5. Perpetual Diaspora, Changing Homelands: The Construction of Russian-Speaking Jews as a Diaspora of Both Israel and Russia Illa Ben-Porat 6. From Diaspora to Diaspora: The Case of Transylvanian Saxons in Romania and Germany James Koranyi and Ruth Wittlinger

Claire Sutherland is a lecturer in Southeast Asian Politics, School of Government and International Relations, Durham University.

Elena Barabantseva is a Research Fellow/Lecturer in Chinese Politics, School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester.