DIASPORA AS CULTURAL AMBASSADORS: REIMAGINING BHARAT GLOBALLY

Description

Bharat Brain Trust,

Edited By: Dr. Joydeb Patra, Dr. Prodipta Barman, Dr. Tamal Gupta

DOI: https://doi.org/10.69889/IMBS.978-81-965700-1-9

ISBN: 978-81-965700-1-9

The word 'Diaspora' derives from the work of Greek historian Thucydides (B.C. 4th), who typically applied it to the dispersal of the Greeks (Ashok, 2024). In recent contemporary history (20th century), though, it was extensively applied to reveal the dispersal of the Jews in the post 1940s (Ashok, 2024). Subsequently, towards the close of the 20th century, the word diaspora was generalized further to explain the phenomenon of all types of people's movement in the entire world (Grossman, et.al, 2018). Then, around the 1970s, in academia, a distinct/independent field appeared to examine theoretically (systematically) such movements of the people and is called the 'Diaspora Studies' (Grossman, et.al, 2018). After then, a vast body of scholarly literature has evolved on the topics (Grossman, et.al, 2018). There is no shortage of the scholarly definitions of diaspora, at times giving rise to some ambiguities (Brubaker, et.al, 2005). For instance, it is claimed by Brubaker that the term diaspora has been used for nearly any population or group of individuals dwelling outside its place of origin (Brubaker, et.al, 2005). Oxford bibliographies describe the term diaspora as, often involuntary, spreading of the population from a motherland to various regions, thus forming communities and identities in terms of the histories and outcomes of dispersal (Kenny, 2013). The Indian diaspora is " one of the largest and most influential in the world" comprising more than 35 million individuals of "Indian origin" distributed on almost every continent (Fernandes, 2014).