Ghosts and Shadows: Construction of Identity and Community in an African Diaspora - Brossura

Matsuoka, Atsuko; Sorenson, John

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0802083315 ISBN 13: 9780802083319

Casa editrice: Univ of Toronto Pr, 2001

Riassunto

Focusing on African diaspora groups that have been virtually ignored in discussions of Canadian multiculturalism - Eritreans, Ethiopians, and Oromos - Ghosts and Shadows explores the re-creation of communities in exile and the invisible forces that haunt them through myths of 'homeland' and 'return.'

Drawing on over a decade of work with refugee and immigrant groups in Canada, Atsuko Matsuoka and John Sorenson provide an analysis of the historical context that has created diaspora movements from the Horn of Africa. They examine contested understandings of Eritrea's thirty-year nationalist struggle, Ethiopian reactions to independence, and ongoing efforts to forge a distinct Oromo identity. The authors also discuss the role of long-distance nationalists in the 1998-2000 Eritrean-Ethiopian war.

This study traces the spectral commitments to conflicting narratives of history and identity that affect settlement experiences of Eritrean, Ethiopian, and Oromo communities in Canada, and shows how the commitments of these exile groups still play important roles in nationalist struggles in their original homelands. Applying the concepts of 'ghosts and shadows' to question the supposed certainties of culture, history, memory, nation, gender, and 'race,' Matsuoka and Sorenson explore the conflicting creation of de-territorialized identities against the presumption of deep-rooted cultural continuities.

A significant contribution to historical and globalized dimensions of nationalism, this work poses important challenges to dominant interpretations of transnational movements by focusing on the involvement of refugees and immigrants in nationalist struggles for distant homelands. By capturing these 'ghostly' and 'shadowy' aspects of lived experience, the book provides essential reading in the fields of anthropology, sociology, social work, and political studies.

Su questo libro

Informazioni sugli autori

Atsuko Matsuoka is Associate Professor of Social Work at York University.

Atsuko Matsuoka is Associate Professor of Social Work at York University. John Sorenson is Associate Professor of Sociology at Brock University.

Dettagli dell?edizione

• Editore: Univ of Toronto Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2001
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0802083315
• ISBN 13: 9780802083319
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 261
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: non disponibile