Diaspora Criticism

"Diaspora Criticism" takes the concept 'diaspora' as its object of inquiry and provides a framework for discussing displaced communities in a way that takes contemporary social, cultural and economic pressures into account. It also offers an alternative to Postcolonial Studies. This book is the first to provide an accessible overview of the critical trends in Diaspora criticism and to critically evaluate the major Diaspora critics and their models, with the aim of adding to the debate on methodology. This authoritative account will be of interest to those working in Diaspora Studies and its related fields of History, Literature, Art, Sociology, Population and Migration Studies, Politics, and Ethnic and Postcolonial Studies.Features include: critically surveys diaspora theory and provides the first comprehensive account of this cutting-edge field; situates Diaspora Criticism in a specific historical context and identifies its methodological strategies as well as the stages in its historical development; critically analyses the approaches of the main diaspora theorists including William Safran, Jonathan Boyarin, Paul Gilroy, James Clifford, Stuart Hall, Rey Chow, Avtar Brah and Vijay Mishra; intervenes in current debates on modernity, globalisation and transnationalism.