Open AccessThe Context of Diaspora
Author(s) -
Axel Brian Keith
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
cultural anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.669
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1548-1360
pISSN - 0886-7356
DOI - 10.1525/can.2004.19.1.26
Subject(s) - diaspora , temporalities , homeland , context (archaeology) , subject (documents) , conversation , sociology , anthropology , identification (biology) , gender studies , history , political science , archaeology , communication , politics , law , computer science , botany , library science , biology
This article brings diaspora studies into a fruitful conversation with linguistic anthropology by examining the relationships among the formation of Sikh diasporic subjects, images of tortured bodies, quotidian Internet practices, and state‐sponsored terror in India. The fleeting emergence of an enunciative subject of diaspora within a single poetic performance compels an examination of the impact of violence and gender normativity for those who self‐identify as Sikh. Diaspora may be understood more productively as a globally mobile category of identification rather than a community of individuals dispersed from a homeland, and the “context” of diaspora may be understood through its production of disparate temporalities (anteriorities, presents, futurities) and subjects.