Diaspora, Transnationalism, and Cultural Hybridity

The Global Impact of Human Migration ANTH 2301 Diaspora, Transnationalism, and Cultural Hybridity Migration has a variety of effects on people and societies. It stimulates the creation of new cultural forms and practices, the transmission of cultural ideas and artefacts from one cultural environment to another, and hybridity—the unanticipated blending of different cultural contexts. The interchange and invention of concepts and artefacts between cultures as a result of migration and globalisation is referred to as cultural hybridity. It is an amalgam of many cultural components brought about by interactions between individuals and their beliefs. Individuals and small groups carry their cultures with them as they travel, while huge ethnic groups can disperse and move around much more quickly, leading to structural changes. Diaspora is the term used to describe this widespread movement that may be brought about by institutionalised brutality, conflict, or opportunity (most typically, work and education). Transnationalism, the development of social, economic, and political networks that start in one nation and then cross or transcend nation-state lines, is related to diaspora. Although transnationalism and diaspora are associated with large-scale migration, transnationalism also refers to the national political and cultural initiatives of a nation-state as they expand internationally (Kearney 1995). Transnational corporations, which have their headquarters in one nation and satellite offices and subsidiaries there, are an illustration of this. Diasporic groups usually possess an identity that has been moulded or changed by their experience of migration. They are known for their cultural hybridity, and they frequently bring these new cultural forms with them to their new countries, resulting in a resurgence of those cultures. A diverse range of cultural elements were introduced to the United States by the African diaspora that resulted from the transatlantic slave trade. These elements included new foods like okra and yams, new musical instruments and forms like the banjo and drums, as well as the creation of African slave spirituals, and new language like jazz, gumbo, and tilapia. Diasporic groups have several traits in common besides having been founded via migration. These include a shared recollection of the ancestral home; a social bond with the nation of origin, usually via surviving family members; a strong sense of group identification; and fictive kinship with diasporic individuals in other nations ("Migration Data Relevant" 2021). Diasporic groups are intrinsically political, as their migrations link nation-states politically, socially, economically, and spiritually (Werbner, 2001). The African diaspora, which was fueled by the transatlantic slave trade from the 15th to the 19th century, the Irish diaspora during the Great Famine in Ireland in the middle of the 1800s, and the Jewish diaspora, which started under the Roman Empire and continued until 1948 when Israel was established as a Jewish homeland, are some of the most well-known diasporas. With almost 18 million Indians residing outside of their nation of origin, India is the genesis of the greatest diaspora in history. Worldwide cultures are impacted by these mass migrations, which are become more frequent as a result of globalisation. Ritty Lukose, an American anthropologist and South Asian scholar, has conducted research in India and among immigrant groups in the United States to investigate diaspora and postcolonial identities. In her 2007 study of Indian diasporic groups in the US, she concentrated on how education helped improve immigrant families by fostering stronger links amongst them. Between 1994 and 2017, there was a 51 percent rise in the proportion of immigrant children in the United States population, which is defined as children with at least one parent who was born outside of the country (Child Trends 2018). Families with immigrants make up a sizable percentage of students in American schools nowadays. Lukose contends that American education has to be reorganised to properly recognise immigrant identities in light of her studies. She uses the California textbook controversy of 2005–2006, in which the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) sued the California State Board of Education for using sixth-grade social studies textbooks that contained what the HAF and many Indian parents considered to be discriminatory and biassed views of Hinduism, as an example of the urgency of this need. Lukose suggests that American educational pedagogy, curricula, and practices should present identity formation itself as one of the richest experiences of being a citizen, rather than fragmenting the migrant experience into voluntary and involuntary immigrants, or emphasising conflict between immigrants and other minorities (like racial minorities). All American students could benefit from an education that stresses immigrant identity as a valid and useful way to live in a globalised world, rather than as a patchwork of disparate parts. This would better prepare them for a time when people will be more interested in what unites us than what divides us.