EMERGING FIELDS OF STUDIES IN DIASPORA

Abstract

The concept of Diaspora did not figure in the social sciences until the late 1960s. The word originated from Greek. The term earlier referred mainly to the Jewish experience. It primarily referred to the expulsion of Jewish people from their homeland to Babylonia and to the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple. In a way, the term conveyed a sense of loss implying that the Jewish population was dispersed with their loss of territory. However, the concept has also been used in a positive sense to some extent as well although not at a higher pitch. It referred to the Greek colonization of the Mediterranean lands from the shores of present-day Turkey and Crimea to the Strait of Gibraltar between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE. Diaspora refers to such population that includes members of an ethnic or religious group that originated from the same place but, over the period of time, has dispersed to different locations. This means that such Diaspora shares the original heritage.