The
term diaspora has Greek origin and refers to the dispersal of a group of people
over a place. After 1980
the concept of diaspora has been more and more used by researchers and has
appeared also in every day's language. This concept mostly used in a context of
movement of people, has become a topic. (Ma Mung,E.2005)
Image from: http://www.maravipost.com/
A feature of these groups of dispersed people
is that they will maintain a connection to their original home/place they
migrated from. This connection may be real; in the form of letters, phone calls
etc. or imagined; songs, myths, spiritual etc. Dispersed communities can
be considered a form of people network characterised by two main features: 1.A
hub of origin (a central pole of dispersal and various clustered
places of immigration) 2.Links (real or imagined) between members of the
various poles of the migratory space (Kuttainen,V.2015)
People
who are part of a diaspora in today’s society may be able to use social media
as a new way of keeping this link to their home country. This could allow
culture, stories, media and so on to be shared even after they have been
displaced. Instagram can contribute to this, as it can be a way for families to
keep in touch but can also spread awareness to other countries; as photos on Instagram
can become popular.
REFERENCES:
Ma Mung,E. (2005) Diaspora, Spatiality, Identities. W. Bosswick & C. Husband (Eds), Comparative European research in migration, diversity and identities (pp. 33-48). Spain: Univeristy of Deusto.
Kuttainen, V. (2015) BA1002: Our space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, Lecture 7: People Networks. [Powerpoint Slide p.4]. Retrieved from http://www.learnjcu.jcu.edu.au
Nice post! The way diaspora was broken down and explained was well constructed. I agree that Insta can be used as a link to the home origin of a person in diaspora. It would be a good medium to share photo's, videos and quotes that have traditional themes with not only others in a diaspora familiar to the user but also to the world and people in other diaspora - just like you mentioned when you said pictures can become popular. Did you know that there is actually a diaspora tag that can be used on instragram? #Diaspora and any other person who follows, likes, or tags 'diaspora' will be able to see the content that you've tagged. This is a brilliant way to connect with people who identify with their people in a way similar to the user! Not only is there a hashtag for diaspora but there are also numerous diaspora profiles, for example: @thediasporadiva, @eridiaspora, and @diasporasalon.
ReplyDeleteRef:
Instagram (2015). #diaspora. Retrieved September 12, 2015, from https://instagram.com/explore/tags/diaspora/