Displacement, Diaspora, and Geographies of Identity

Displacement, Diaspora, and Geographies of Identity. Smadar Lavie and Ted Swedenburg. eds. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1996. 332 pp.     

The Maya Diaspora: Guatemalan Roots, New American Lives

The Maya Diaspora: Guatemalan Roots, New American Lives. James Loucky and Marilyn M. Moors. eds. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2000. 263 pp.     

Life on the Outside: The Tamil Diaspora and Long-Distance Nationalism

Life on the Outside: The Tamil Diaspora and Long-Distance Nationalism. Øivind Fuglerud. Sterling, VA: Pluto Press, 1999.203 pp.     

The Nation's Tortured Body: Violence, Representation and the Formation of a Sikh "Diaspora."

The Nation's Tortured Body: Violence, Representation and the Formation of. Sikh "Diaspora." Brian Keith Axel. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2001. 297 pp.     

Andean Diaspora: The Tiwanaku Colonies and the Origins of South American Empire

Andean Diaspora: The Tiwanaku Colonies and the Origins of South American Empire. Paul S. Goldstein. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2005. 403 pp.     

Ghosts and Shadows: Construction of Identity and Community in an African Diaspora.

Ghosts and Shadows: Construction of Identity and Community in an African Diaspora. 2nd edition. Atsuko Matsuoka and John Sorenson. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001. 261 pp.     

The Chrysanthemum and the Song: Music, Memory and Identity in the South American Japanese Diaspora; Strangers in the Ethnic Homeland: Japanese Brazilian Return Migration in Transnational Perspective

The Chrysanthemum and the Song: Music, Memory and Identity in the South American Japanese Diaspora . Dale A. Olsen. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2004. 323 pp.
Strangers in the Ethnic Homeland: Japanese Brazilian Return Migration in Transnational Perspective . Takeyuki Tsuda. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003. 431 pp.     

Different Evolutionary History for Basque Diaspora Populations in USA and Argentina Unveiled by Mitochondrial DNA Analysis

The Basque Diaspora in Western USA and Argentina represents two populations which have maintained strong Basque cultural and social roots in a completely different geographic context. Hence, they provide an exceptional opportunity to study the maternal genetic legacy from the ancestral Basque population and assess the degree of genetic introgression from the host populations in two of the largest Basque communities outside the Basque Country. For this purpose, we analyzed the complete mitochondrial DNA control region of Basque descendants living in Western USA (n = 175) and in Argentina (n = 194). The Diaspora populations studied here displayed a genetic diversity in their European maternal input which was similar to that of the Basque source populations, indicating that not important founder effects would have occurred. Actually, the genetic legacy of the Basque population still prevailed in their present-day maternal pools, by means of a haplogroup distribution similar to the source population characterized by the presence of autochthonous Basque lineages, such as U5b1f1a and J1c5c1. However, introgression of non-Basque lineages, mostly Native American, has been observed in the Diaspora populations, particularly in Argentina, where the quick assimilation of the newcomers would have favored a wider admixture with host populations. In contrast, a longer isolation of the Diaspora groups in USA, because of language and cultural differences, would have limited the introgression of local lineages. This study reveals important differences in the maternal evolutionary histories of these Basque Diaspora populations, which have to be taken into consideration in forensic and medical genetic studies.     

Re-imagining the Diaspora: History, Responsibility, and Commitment in an Age of Globalization

The past two decades have witnessed the intensification of globalization and the unprecedented exodus of Africans to developed countries. The two trends have profound implications for the North and South and also for Africans and their relationship to their homeland. This paper examines the relationship and explores the challenges of engaging, interrogating and re-imaging the notion of Diaspora. This paper is dedicated to the memory of Professor Michael C. Mbabuike, “Ugonabo” – an accomplished poet, a distinguished scholar, a most valued colleague, a brother in the truest sense of the word, a decent man – with whom I shared an immense love for our homeland, Igboland.     

Counting the founders: the matrilineal genetic ancestry of the Jewish Diaspora

The history of the Jewish Diaspora dates back to the Assyrian and Babylonian conquests in the Levant, followed by complex demographic and migratory trajectories over the ensuing millennia which pose a serious challenge to unraveling population genetic patterns. Here we ask whether phylogenetic analysis, based on highly resolved mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) phylogenies can discern among maternal ancestries of the Diaspora. Accordingly, 1,142 samples from 14 different non-Ashkenazi Jewish communities were analyzed. A list of complete mtDNA sequences was established for all variants present at high frequency in the communities studied, along with high-resolution genotyping of all samples. Unlike the previously reported pattern observed among Ashkenazi Jews, the numerically major portion of the non-Ashkenazi Jews, currently estimated at 5 million people and comprised of the Moroccan, Iraqi, Iranian and Iberian Exile Jewish communities showed no evidence for a narrow founder effect, which did however characterize the smaller and more remote Belmonte, Indian and the two Caucasus communities. The Indian and Ethiopian Jewish sample sets suggested local female introgression, while mtDNAs in all other communities studied belong to a well-characterized West Eurasian pool of maternal lineages. Absence of sub-Saharan African mtDNA lineages among the North African Jewish communities suggests negligible or low level of admixture with females of the host populations among whom the African haplogroup (Hg) L0-L3 sub-clades variants are common. In contrast, the North African and Iberian Exile Jewish communities show influence of putative Iberian admixture as documented by mtDNA Hg HV0 variants. These findings highlight striking differences in the demographic history of the widespread Jewish Diaspora.     

Early African Diaspora in colonial Campeche, Mexico: strontium isotopic evidence

Construction activities around Campeche's central park led to the discovery of an early colonial church and an associated burial ground, in use from the mid-16th century AD to the late 17th century. Remains of some individuals revealed dental mutilations characteristic of West Africa. Analyses of strontium isotopes of dental enamel from these individuals yielded unusually high (87)Sr/(86)Sr ratios, inconsistent with an origin in Mesoamerica, but consistent with an origin in West Africa in terrain underlain by the West Africa Craton, perhaps near the port of Elmina, a principal source of slaves for the New World during the 16th century. These individuals likely represent some of the earliest representatives of the African Diaspora in the Americas.     

African Ethnicity as Mirage? Historicizing the Essence of the Igbo in Africa and the Atlantic Diaspora

The enslavement of Africans, which gave birth to the African Diaspora in the Atlantic world, scattered people who shared the same cultural and linguistic affinity but often lumped them together in identifiable regional patterns. A significant consequence of the pattern of trade was the emergence of identifiable “ethnic” and cultural patterns in the diaspora. Attention, therefore, has for a long time focused on the pattern of dispersion and the impact of the Atlantic slave trade on the emergence of New World cultures. This paper addresses what I call the “question of Igbo history, ethnicity and identity,” with a view to presenting a synthesis and a framework for understanding the essence of ndiIgbo as flexible in both Africa and the Atlantic Diaspora. The case of the Igbo suggests that identities are multi-layered, self imposed, as well as ascribed by others and as such require a critical analysis to avoid the essentialism that have bedeviled much of the discourse on African identity in the diaspora     

The Hmong Diaspora: Preserved South-East Asian genetic ancestry in French Guianese Asians

The Hmong Diaspora is one of the widest modern human migrations. Mainly localised in South-East Asia, the United States of America, and metropolitan France, a small community has also settled the Amazonian forest of French Guiana. We have biologically analysed 62 individuals of this unique Guianese population through three complementary genetic markers: mitochondrial DNA (HVS-I/II and coding region SNPs), Y-chromosome (SNPs and STRs), and the Gm allotypic system. All genetic systems showed a high conservation of the Asian gene pool (Asian ancestry: mtDNA = 100.0%; NRY = 99.1%; Gm = 96.6%), without a trace of founder effect. When compared across various Asian populations, the highest correlations were observed with Hmong-Mien groups still living in South-East Asia (Fst < 0.05; P-value < 0.05). Despite a long history punctuated by exodus, the French Guianese Hmong have maintained their original genetic diversity.     

Earth,Air, Fire,and Water: Elements of Art

Abstract

Shoshana Zuboff. In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power. New York: Basic Books, 1988, 468 pp. $11.95 paperback.

George Gilder. Microcosm: The Quantum Revolution in Economics and Technology. New York: Simon &; Schuster, 1989. 426 pp. $19.95 hardcover.

Loren Baritz. The Good Life. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1988. 361 pp. $19.95 hardcover.

Miles Orville. The Real Thing: Imitation and Authority in American Culture, 1880–1940. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989. 382 pp. $14.95 paperback.

Peter Shaw. The War Against the Intellect. Iowa City: The University of Iowa Press, 1989. 181 pp. $10.95 paperback.

Robert Alter. The Pleasures of Reading in an Ideological Age. New York: Simon &; Schuster, 1989. 250 pp. $18.95 hardcover.

Ian Crofton. A Dictionary of Art Quotations. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1989. $19.95 hardcover.     

Indigenous Peoples, State-Sanctioned Knowledge, and the Politics of Recognition

Invisible Indigenes: The Politics of Nonrecognition . Bruce G. Miller. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003. 248 pp.
Forgotten Tribes: Unrecognized Indians and the Federal Acknowledgement Process . Mark Edwin Miller. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004. 355 pp.
Gambling and Survival in Native North America . Paul Pasquaretta. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2003. 202 pp.     

Crossing, Creolization, and the African Roots of American Culture

Group Harmony: The Black Urban Roots of Rhythm and Blues. Stuart L. Goosman. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005. 291 pp.
Right to Rock: The Black Rock Coalition and the Cultural Politics of Race. Maureen Mahon. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2004. 317 pp.
Crossovers: Essays on Race, Music, and American Culture. John Szwed. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005. 283 pp.     

Centers, Margins, and Women in South Asia

Women as Subjects: South Asian Histories. Nita Kumar. ed Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1994.239 pp.
From the Margins of Hindu Marriage: Essays on Gender, Religion and Culture. Lindsey Harlan and Paul B. Courtright. eds. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.250 pp.
The White Woman's Other Burden: Western Women and South Asia during the British Rule. Kumari Jayawardena New York: Routledge, 1995.310 pp.     

Context, Meaning, and the Chomskyan Notion of Creativity

Implicit Meanings: Essays in Anthropology. Mary Douglas . London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1975. xxi + 325 pp. $23.50 (cloth).
Culture and Communication. The Logic by Which Symbols are Connected: An Introduction to the Use of Structuralist Analysis in Social Anthropology. Edmund Leach . New York: Cambridge University Press, 1976. 105 pp. $9.95 (cloth), $3.95 (paper).
Meaning. Michael Polanyi and Harry Prosch . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975. xiv + 246 pp. $12.50 (cloth).     

Political Violence, Narrative, and Memory

Lords of the Lebanese Marclies: Violence and Narrative in an Arab Society. Michael Gilsenan. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. 377 pp.
Memories of Revolt: The 1936-1939 Rebellion and the Palestinian National Past. Ted Swedenburg. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1995. 259 pp.     

Making Their Way: Four Books on Youth, Culture, and Identity

Peer Power: Preadolescent Culture and Identity. Patricia A. Adler and Peter Adler. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1998. 257 pp.
Angels' Town: Chero Ways, Gang Life, and Rhetorics of the Everyday. Ralph Cintron. Boston: Beacon Press, 1997. 264 pp.
Everyday Courage: The Lives and Stories of Urban Teenagers. Niobe Way. New York: New York University Press, 1998. 310 pp.
At Home in the Street: Street Children of Northeast Brazil. Tobias Hecht. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. 267 pp.