THE PHENOMENON OF DIASPORA:
MISSIOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR CHRISTIAN MISSIONS
Enoch Wan
Published in “Diaspora Study” of www.GlobalMissiology.org July, 2012
This paper was originally presented at the Filipino Diaspora Missions Consultation: Seoul, South Korea, April 12-15, 2004
I. INTRODUCTION
Diaspora in a large scale is a recent phenomenon of short history, of several decades; yet with strong socio-cultural impact on many countries and people groups.
It is important to provide definition of some key-terms and state the assumptions of this paper at the outset. Etymologically, “diaspora” (from Greek) means scattering and the term is used in this paper in reference to the phenomenon of large-scale movement of people from their home land to elsewhere geographically over a period of time (i.e. not mere transient). The term “migration” is used to describe the movement of people from one location to another with no reference to home country; whereas “emigration” is leaving one’s own country for another, while “immigration” is just moving to another country.
It is understood that “mission” is the “Great Commission of making disciples” by carrying out the “missions” (ways and means of accomplishing the “mission”) including proclamation of the Gospel, persuasion for conversion, practicing the Great Commandment (of loving God and one’s neighbor in holistic ministry), producing disciples and self-multiplying congregations, etc.
The purpose of this paper is to describe the phenomenon of diaspora and delineate its missiological implications. Important as they may, discussion and analysis of various factors and multiple forms of diaspora are beyond the scope of this paper. However, helpful references and web sites will be provided in the List of Reference and Appendix 1 for those who are interested in further exploration and research.
II. SOME OBSERVATIONS
The phenomenon of diaspora occurs in contemporary society as international migration.
Factors to accelerate this trend of diaspora are: “the rapid processes of economic, demographic,
social, political, cultural and environmental change, which rise from decolonization,
modernization and uneven development.” (Castles & Miller 1998:139)
Of relevance to this study is “the migration model” which in the words of the Peruvian
missiologist Samuel Escobar is:
“The migration model has also functioned through the centuries. Migrants from poor countries who move in search of economic survival carry the Christian message and missionary initiative with them. Moravians from Curazao moved to Holland; Jamaican Baptists emigrated to England; Filipino Christian women go to Muslim countries; Haitian believers went to Canada; and Latin American Evangelicals are going to Japan, Australia, and the United States.” (Escobar 2000:34)
Large scale diaspora is one of the characteristics of contemporary society. The hundreds of churches of the World Council of Churches (WCC), spread over one hundred countries, have made concerted efforts responding to the phenomenon of diaspora through various WCC branches, such as “Actions by Churches Together” (“for emergency needs of refugees and displaced peoples”), “Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance” (on justice issues, racism, indigenous peoples rights, women’s Programs…”) and Uprooted People (a quarterly newsletter) (Stromberg 2003:45).
2.1 Diaspora – A Growing Trend
The magnitude of diaspora is impressive for “members of between 1% and 2% of the contemporary world population has migrated or is migrating” (Jongeneel 2003:29; Jacques 1991)
“By the early 1990s there were about 17 million internally displaced people, 30 million ‘regular’ migrants, and anther 30 million migrants with an ‘irregular’ status. The combined total of 97 million persons represents a doubling of the global migrant population in the spaced of five years” (Hanciles 2003:146). Of the various continents, sub-Saharan Africa has the bulk (estimated 35 million regional migrants), “followed by Asia and the Middle East. Additionally, most migrants – including the bulk of the world’s 17 million officially registered refugees and asylum seekers – stay in their region of origin.” (Hanciles 2003:146).
For instance, Europe is “estimated to have approximately 18 million legal migrants and, additionally, around 2.6 million undocumented migrants. (Jongeneel 2003:29)
2.2 Various Forms and Factors of Multiple Diasporas
Diasporas occur among many countries and continents including Chinese, Jewish, South Asian, Hispanic, Caribbean, etc. for many factors such as economic betterment, social instability, political conflict, conquer or oppression, natural catastrophes, etc. They may take various forms such as orderly/voluntary factors (e.g. migration, emigration, immigration, etc.) or chaotic/involuntary factors (e.g. refugee, prisoners of international or tribal wars, ethnic cleansing, children-at-risk, etc.).
2.3 Emergence of Islam and Christianity into Truly Global Religions Historically
During the period of the seventh to twelfth centuries, Islam’s expansion was
based on migration of the Muslim, covering the area:
“from Iberia and Morocco in the west to sub-Saharan Africa in the south and as far east as Persia, northern India, and later, Indonesia…as the most successful heir to the Roman and Persian empires, so that the period from roughly 750 to 1750 is conventionally regarded in world history as the Islamic Age.” (Hanciles 2003:146)
Similar pattern could be found in the process of expansion of Christianity in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and specifically with “50 - 60 million Europeans emigrated overseas’ from 1815 to 1915. (Hanciles 2003:146)
2.4 South to North Migration Movement
Of the many factors to account for the South to North migration movement, political instability and desperate poverty of the many countries in the Southern hemisphere are the most significant ones. S.M. Naseem in the recent write-up online entitled “Diaspora and Development” made the following observation,
“One of the more benign and virtuous aspects of globalization in the past three decades or so has been the increase in the migration of people from the poorer, labour-surplus economies of the South to the richer, labour-scarce economies migration within the South, itself.” (Naseem 2004)
Hanciles is critical of the attempt to explain South-to-North migration movement in economic terms to be “simplistic”; especially in the African context. He offered to add to the factor of “contextual pathologies” of the southern continents, “charismatic or neo-Pentecostal Christian movements.” (Hanciles 2003:150) He factually made an excellent case by contrasting the vibrant immigrant churches (from non-Western origins) in Western Europe and the USA with the secularized and declining Christian churches. (Hanciles 2003:150-151)
It is interesting to observe that in contrast to the migration movement from South to North, there is the shift of missionary force passing “from North to South at a time when the South is increasingly poor.” (Escobar 2000: 33-34)
2.4 The Opportunity and Challenge of Diaspora to Christian Community
A. Unity in the context of diversity
The phenomenon of disapora provides both the opportunity and challenge of preserving/ demonstrative Christian unity in the context of diversity. In his case study on diaspora in Europe, Jongeneel had observed that “The life and activities of the congregations and the churches in Europe are nowadays more pluriform and complex than in previous centuries…due to the language used, worship style practiced, multi-ethnic mix…is both positive and problematic…” (Jongneel 2003:31).
B. Islamization
Some referred to the phenomenon of recent explosive number of Muslims immigrating to Europe in the last few decades as “Islamization” (Jongeneel 2003:31). This development provides both golden opportunities and major challenge to the Christian church for evangelism.
C. A case study of challenges and opportunities in Spain
Samuel Escobar in his 2002 ASM presidential address highlighted the massive immigrant population: “Official figures show that there are 220,000 Moroccans, 83,000 Ecuadorian, 40,000 Columbians, 35,000 Chinese, 28,000 Peruvians, 13,000 Pakistani and a similar number of Filipinos…” which posted a threefold challenge to the Christian church in Spain:
“First is the challenge to Christian compassion and sensitivity…The second challenge is the need for the churches to take a prophetic stance in the fact of society’s unjust treatment of immigrants…The third challenge is the fact that migration is an avenue for the evangelistic dimension of mission…” (original emphasis, Escobar 2003:19)
III. MISSIOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE PHENOMENON OF DIASPORA
3.1 Theological Implication
Nowadays, people from various parts of the world who traditionally had been separated geographically and culturally are being thrown together in close proximity due to the phenomenon of diaspora. Henceforth there is an urgent search for theological understanding on matters related to multiculturalism and ethnicity, inter-racial relationship and Christian hospitality.
For example, WCC recently sponsored two meetings on the matters of cultural diversity and Christian unity: “International Network Forum on Multicultural ministry,” November 1999 held in Australia and May 2002 in Thailand. (Stromberg 2003:46)
The participants at these gatherings formulated “a Trinitarian theology of the kingdom of God” to account for “the social realities” and in support of “multicultural ministry” of WCC in the following official statement:
“In God’s grace, the love which enables the unity of the different persons of the
Trinity also enables us to live in the differences of our cultural and individual particularity…The Holy Spirit brings Christ’s reconciliation to the human community in such a way that we are not reduced to a single type but enhanced in the richness of our diversity.” (Stromberg 2003:46)
3.2 Theoretical Implication
The phenomena of diaspora occur in different contexts and circumstances do varied in size, shape, dynamics and impacts thus are incredibly complex and unpredictable. However, efforts of theoretical formulation have resulted in multiple numbers of theories such as historical-structural, migration systems, network-complexity, social capital, neo-classical economic, etc. (Castles and Miller 1998:19-29; Massey 1999:34-52; Pessar 1999:53-70).
A. New way of conceptualizing non-spatially
Traditionally, the terms used to enable researchers to conceptualize spatially are “local” and “global.” However, the phenomenon of diaspora provides a new intermediate state between “local” and “global.” The phenomenon of large scale and intensified diaspora requires the formulation of a new paradigm that is “borderless” and of “deterritorialization” in nature. “Most important, global migration movements link the fate of distant communities in a manner that transcends national boundaries and significantly weakens culture-place or identity-place correlation.” (Hanciles 2003:148)
A recent posting in the internet by Georgiou provides an apt explanation of this new paradigm of deterritorialization - the scope and scale of the task is transnational:
“…diasporic as a defining characteristic of certain minorities allows us to understand the specificity of the experience of certain groups which at some stage in their history migrated and have as a reference a distant Homeland. Because of the direct or the symbolic and historical experience of migration and of deterritorialisation, diasporic minorities have some distinct characteristics vis-a-vis other ethnic minorities (such as the indigenous and linguistic ethnic minorities).” (Georgiou 2001)
Hanciles proposed the term “transnational migration” or “transmigration” to label the
phenomenon of diaspora with the following description,
“This new paradigm suggests that ’even though migrants invest socially, economically, and politically in their new society, they may continue to participate in the daily life of the society fromw hich they emigrated but which they did not abandon.’ Transmigrants are often bilingual, can lead dual lives, move easily between cultures, frequently maintain homes in two countries, and are incorporated as social actors in both.” (Hanciles 2003:147)
B. A new way of conceptualizing culturally
In a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic society like USA, there are homogeneous groups that are culturally distinctive from other groups. For example, American -Koreans and American-Japanese are culturally distinctive from one another though they come from homogeneous countries of Korea and Japan. Hawaii and Brazil are the two countries that could be illustrative of cultural and ethnic mix that would frustrate any attempt to identify culturally distinctive
groups. The phenomenon of diaspora accelerates the process of mixing resulted in the necessity of a new paradigm of ambiguous ethnic identity or cultural “hibridity,” as an alternative to traditional concept of “homogeneity.” This on-going process of merging, mixing and emerging in Europe is described by Georgious:
“Diaspora is not a panacea and should not be considered as the only useful concept to address the experience of certain minorities. The value of diaspora does not erase the importance of concepts such as ethnicity and migration. Rather, diaspora has become an additional concept. It is a useful concept that helps us understand the complexities of multicultural Europe.” (Myria Georgiou 2001)
C. A new scenario that requires an interdisciplinary approach
Due to the complexity of the phenomenon of diaspora, researchers and care-givers are to combine the use of demographic approach, statistical data, community development, social
sciences, etc. Parallel to urban missions (Shipp 1990), Christian response to the phenomenon of diaspora has to be interdisciplinary utilizing theories and methodologies of sociology, anthropology, demography, statistics, etc.
It may be a surprise to evangelical Christians that in the 1990’s, the Catholic church in the US had issued an official document comprehensively dealt with the matters of migration and mission. “One Family Under God” (Sept. 1995, revised 1998) was an official document issued by the National Council of Catholic Bishops of the United States covering biblical foundation, sociological analyses and practical guidelines.
3.3. Methodological Implications
A. A new paradigm:
The phenomenon of diaspora requires a new missiological paradigm to cope with the opportunities and challenges emerging from such a development. The several dimensions to this new missiological paradigm are described below:
a) “multi-directional”
The traditional missiological distinction between “foreign missions” and local missions is to be replaced by a “multi-directional” conceptualization of “world missions” as the following book title indicates, The New Global Mission: The Gospel from Everywhere to Everyone (Escobar,& Stott 2003). The description of “Paragraph 9 of the Lusanne Covenant” succinctly summarizes it well,
“Missionaries should flow ever more freely from and to all six continents in a spirit of humble service.”
Jehu Hanciles advocated the replacement of traditional “European-style linear structures” with the “emerging non-Western” pattern, typical of the phenomenon of diaspora:
“…parallel presences in different circles and at different levels, each seeking to penetrate within and beyond its circle.’ Contemporary migration is a ‘network-driven phenomenon, with newcomers naturally attracted to the places where they have contacts and the buildup of contacts facilitating later moves to the key immigrant centers.’ …the emerging non-Western movement’ is cellular, travels along pre-existing social relations, rests on charismatic leadership, communicates in songs and signals, and understands the human person in his or her relationship to community.’ “ (Hanciles 2003: 150)
b) “Mission at our doorstep”
David L. Ripley (1994) convincingly gave a wake up call to Christian in the USA that
due to the wave of large influx of immigrants began in the 1980s, “mission at our doorstep” is a reality not be ignored. Samuel Escobar made a similar point for the case in the USA (Escobar 2000:29) as did David D’Amico’s article, “Evangelization Across Cultures in the United States: What to Do When the World Come to Us” (D’Amico 2001). Ebaugh and Chafetz’s book Religion and the New Immigrants: Continuities and Adaptations in Immigrant Congregations provided helpful data on the influx of immigrant and the flourishing of the immigrant congregations in the USA.
It is inexcusable for Christians in the US to not engage in cross-cultural evangelization for it can be done at home in ethnic enclaves (D’Amico) domestically (Long 1996).
Jan Jongeneel in his case study on Europe entitled “The Mission of Migrant Churches in Europe proposed three terms to deal specifically with the phenomenon of diaspora as follows:
“1. Internal mission (Mission in Non—Western Circles)… The non-Western Christian migrants are part of their own ethnic, national, and linguistic communities…2. Reverse Mission… Many non-Western migrants do not confine their witness to their own circles. They are convinced of their call to preach the full gospel to secular Europeans as well…3. Common Mission… Mission can also be done by members of established congregations and churches in cooperation with members of migrant congregations and churches – the so called ‘common mission’… has referred to ‘the vision of a common missionary vocation,’...” (Jongeneel 2003:32)
c) “multi-dimensional” perspective and holistic missions
The traditional distinction and dichotomist view of “saving soul” vis-à-vis “practicing charity” should give way to a holistic understand of the Christian faith (i.e. Great Commission and Great Commandment combined) and man’s condition (spiritual lostness and human plight). The multi-dimensional understand of Christian mission and humanitarian responsibility to displaced people in diaspora. The new trend of evangelical readily being involved in “holistic” understanding and practice is partially caused and challenged by the phenomenon of disapora. (Escobar 2000:32-33). This shift towards a multi-dimensional perspective is called “a changed understanding” by Hanciles with elements such as the emphasis on “incarnational” ministry, the adaptation of Johannine model of the Great Commission (John 17:18 and 20:21), and the call of missions as “service” (Hanciles 2003:149-159)
“From the perspective of mission, particularly in the Evangelical world, we have lately observed the mushrooming of holistic mission projects, in which a social component becomes indispensable.” (Escobar 2000:32)
In a seminal article entitled “Biblical Issues in Mission and Migration,” Professor Christine D. Pohl of Asbury Theological Seminary brought to the forth several missiological implications of Christian responsibility to resident aliens in the context of mission and migration:
“1. The biblical responsibility to resident aliens suggests that a concern for the physical, social, and spiritual well-being of migrants and refugees should not be peripheral to Christian life, mission, and witness; instead, it should be central. In setting priorities…2.The biblical accounts suggest the importance of carefully and creatively think about how to hold together emphases on alien status and hospitality…3. In a world of ethnic tensions and vast socioeconomic differences and injustices, acts of hospitality are what Philip Hallie calls ‘litter moves against destructiveness’… Hospitality is an important expression of recognition and respect for those who are despised or overlooked by the larger society.” (Pohl 2003:9-10)
Lawrence Temfwe issued a similar call for Christians in his article, “Aliens in Our Own Country” (2004) and so did others (Creswell 2003; Guthrie 1998; Moreau 2000).
d) new approach – “diaspora management,” networking and partnership
“Diaspora management” is governmental utilization of resources provided by former citizens in terms of human (e.g. expertise) and financial (e.g. investment and remittance) resources for “motherland.” A case in point is the government of India:
“One nation exploring ‘diaspora management’ is India, whose government and the Federation of Indian Chambers of commerce and Industry recently invited 2000 extremely successful ‘non-resident’ Indians from 63 countries to New Delhi, to determine how the resources and achievements of Indians abroad might be used to uplift India…that Chinese non-residents have invested about $60 billion in China while that number for India is only $1 billion from non-resident Indians…The opportunities that ‘diaspora management’ has to offer are endless…” (http://trendwatching.com/trends/2003/03diasporamanagement.html)
The Vietnamese government has extended similar friendly gesture to descendents of
disapora Vietnamese abroad. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2538455.stm)
Since 1976, Chinese Christians all over the world have maximize the “diaspora management” model to promote world-wide movement for evangelism among the diaspora Chinese by forming the “Chinese Coordination Centre of World Evangelism” (“CCCOWE”) in 1976. This movement began with seventy Chinese church leaders, who came together at the International Congress on World Evangelism in Lausanne, to commence the movement that began with the 1st Chinese Congress on World Evangelization convened in Hong Kong in August 1976. Today, there are Board of Directors from each of the worldwide 50 plus CCCOWE District Committees to coordinate global evangelistic efforts among diaspora Chinese. (For details - http://www.cccowe.org/) The formation and operation of FIN will do well to learn from the model of “diaspora management” and the precedent of CCCOWE.
The traditional Western-based, denominational or national model of Christian mission is to adapt to the new landscape, emerging from the phenomenon of diaspora, to network and partner with the vibrant Christian congregations among diaspora community in many lands.
The new approach would include networking and partnership with local Christian efforts and diaspora Christian community, as proposed by Joshua Tsutada in “Global Cooperation and Networking” (Tsutada 2000). The following quotation sums up the need of partnership in the contemporary context of internal migration or large scale diaspora:
“Precisely at the point in which the influence of Christianity declines in the West, which turns into a hard mission field because its culture resists the gospel, the new global order has brought the so-called Third World into the heart of North America, Europe, and Japan. Within that environment, Christians from old and new churches are called to new partnerships” (Escobar 2000:29)
Swiss missiologist W. Buhlmann (1986) went as far as stating that “the Third Church” will be the driving force of global mission during the Third Millennium, after identifying the first thousand years of church history to be dominated by the Eastern Church (the eastern half of the Roman Empire) and the second thousand years being led by the Western Church of Europe and USA in growth and expansion.
The global mission movement requires the cooperation and partnership of traditional missionary forces from the West with local ethnic Christians. A case in point is well illustrated by Laura Heikes’ study on Hispanic American Christians (in relation to migrant workers in the US) and Latino through out South America (in relation to non-Christians in South American countries) due to the following advantages they have: familiar knowledge and psychological connectedness to the diaspora population from personal experience and shared cultural affinity. (Heikes 2003:69-85)
Jongeneel’s study on the European situation came to a similar conclusion as quoted
below:
“Migrant Christians and their congregations and churches can help established Christianity in Europe to renew its mission and evangelism. The changing contexts in Europe, the process of globalization, and other contemporary changes – these challenge all Christians and their established and migrant congregations and churches cooperate together and to do mission and evangelism commonly: for the sake of God’s glory and humanity’s salvation.” (Jongeneel 2002:33)
For the new millennium, Escobar proposed “the cooperative model, churches from rich nations add their material resources to the human resources of the churches in poor nations in order to work in a third area.” (original emphasis, Escobar 2000:34)
“…Some missionary presence and activity has been significant, though is seldom get to the records of formal institutional mission agencies as well as faith missions are trying to set up connections that will allow them to serve within the frame of this migration movement.” (Escobar 2000:34)
Marcel Durst’s MA thesis had an interesting title: “Mission through Migration: Mission Initiatives of Latin American Migrants in Switzerland.” (Durst 2002:xiii) with several insightful points:
“…some recommendations are made which could help develop partnership in these mission efforts, but could also pose a challenge to Swiss churches: to recognize migration as a potential for unplanned mission, to facilitate sending and receiving missionaries in true partnership, and to network of existing Latin groups and their mission efforts.”
D. New awareness – wisdom required
There must be a new awareness that Christian emigration to the West is part of the trend of diaspora yet the well-meaning efforts to assist suffering Christians in emigration may result in the weakening, even destroying the local Christian church. Armenian Christians in Iran is an apt illustration. In 1976, there were 169,000 Christians (0.5% of the population of 33.7 million). Since a “procedure set up in Austria to help Christians to leave Iran and obtain a USA visa… refugee status…” was in place. By 1996, twenty years later, there were only 78,000 ethnic Christians left behind (0.1% of the 60.1 million population) (see “Human Rights without Frontiers,” Feb 16, 2001 - http://www.strategicnetwork.org/index.php?). Therefore, Christians must act with wisdom when facilitating emigration of Christians to the West in some critical situations.
E. Altered ecclesiology in “Christian countries”
The adapted form of worship and organizational structure by vibrant & growing ethnic congregations may even impact the Christian community in the host country:
“The migrant congregations and churches are not just an appendix to the established congregations and churches in Europe. They have their own identity, take their own initiatives, and show leadership: their enthusiasm and experiential knowledge of the non-Christian religions and ideologies pave new ways in missions and evangelism.” (Jongeneel 2002:32)
The altered ecclesiology in the hosting “Christian countries” has been discussed by quite a few researchers such as D’Amico (2001), Durst (2002), Escobar (2000), Hanciles (2003).
F. Positive factors:
a) Demographic diaspora facilitates Christian expansion
The thesis of Jehu J. Hanciles’ paper, “Migration and Mission: Some Implications for
the Twenty-first-Century Church” is that
“recent migration movements, as a critical dimension of contemporary global transformations, have the potential to significantly affect the geographic and demographic contours of the world’s major religions and provide a vital outlet for proselytism and missionary expansion.” (Hanciles’ 2003:146)
After reviewing the development of the Christian church historically and the process of Christian expansion analytically, Hanciles came to a conclusion that “Christianity is a migratory religion, and migration movements have been a functional element in its expansion.” (Hanciles 2003:149)
b) Reachable and receptive
According to Roger Greenway of Calvin Theological Seminary, a leading
missiologist in the study of urban mission, considered the migratory phenomenon of diaspora (explosive demographic shift to the city included) is a divine provision of making those who traditionally had been unreachable and resistant to become reachable by and receptive to the gospel. (Greenway 1999:554-555)
Laura Heikes cited the precedent of Moroccan Muslim in Spain in search of
works to be reachable by the gospel (Heikes 2003:69-85). Such stories can easily be multiplied by the thousands of similar incidents as part of global mission strategy.
Displaced people are most receptive to the gospel when in transition and undergoing psycho-social adjustment from traumatic experience, separation & suffering (Wan
2003). Among the diaspora, ethnic church often has turned into a community center for mutual aid, social activities, substitute-family, etc. Diaspora Muslim, such as Kurds, Afghanis, Somalis, etc. are some examples in Justin Long’s study (1996) on their accessibility and receptivity.
G. Negative factor – statistically challenging
The phenomenon of diaspora had a negative factor to missiological research due to the statistical challenge of ascertaining accurate figures of various groups. The reasons include: high mobility, the tendency towards cultural/ethnic hybridity, confused identity (due to cultural assimilation, genetic amalgamation of inter-racial marriage, psycho-dynamic marginality of the “self” or divided loyalty), etc.
IV. CONCLUSION
In this paper, the phenomenon of
diaspora had been described and its missiological implications have been
delineated.
LIST OF REFERENCE
Alex Araujo, "Globalization and world evangelism” In Global Missiology for the 21st Century, Taylor, William D., ed., Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 2000:57-70.
Cohen, Robin. Global Diasporas: An Introduction. London: UCL Press. 1997.
D’Amico, David F. “Evangelization Across Cultures in the United States: What to Do When the World Come to Us.” (D’Amico.org - 2001). http://www.damicony.org/warticles/art010.htm
Mickleburgh, Andrew. Bibliography of the South Asian Diaspora and East Africa: An Annotated Bibliography. http://coombs.anu.edu.au/Biblio/biblio_sasiadiaspora.html (April 2004)
Braziel, Jana Evans & Mannur, Anita. Theorizing Diaspora: A Reader. London: Blackwell Publishing. 2003.
Buhlmann, W. The Church of the Future: A Model for the Year 2001. Marynoll, NY: Orbis Books. 1986.
Castles, Stephen and Miller, Mark J. The Age of Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World. New York: Guilford Press. 1998.
Cohen, Robin (1997) Global Diasporas: An Introduction. London: UCL Press
edited by Stephen R. Warner and Judith G. Wittner
Creewell, Mike. “God Cares for Refugees, So His people Must Minister to Them, Worker Says.” SBC International Missions Board, April 08, 2003.
Durst, Marcel. “Mission through Migration: Mission Initiatives of Latin American Migrants in Switzerland.” Unpublished MA thesis, Columbia International University, German Branch, Korntal, May 2, 2002.
Ebaugh, Helen R. and Chafetz, Janet S. Religion and the New Immigrants: Continuities and Adaptations in Immigrant Congregations. New York: AltaMira Press, 2000.
Escobar, Samuel “The Global Scenario at the Turn of the Century,” In Global Missiology for the 21st Century, Taylor, William D., ed., Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 2000: 25-46. Gatherings in Diaspora: Religious Communities and the New Immigration.
Georgiou, Myria “Thinking Diaspora: Why Diaspora is a Key Concept for Understanding Multicultural Europe,” On-Line / More Colour in the Media: The Multicultural Skyscraper Newsletter, Vol. 1 No. 4. Tuesday, December 4, 2001
Greenway, Roger. “The Challenge of the Cities.” In Perspectives on the world Christian Movement,” 3rd edition. Ralph Winter and Steven Hawthorne, eds. P. 553-558. Pasedena, CA: William Carey Library.
Guthrie, Stan “Global Report: Children at Risk: The Biggest Litter Mission Field in the World?” Evangelical Mission Quarterly, Jan. 01, 1998, vol. 34:1, pp. 88-94.
Hanciles, Jehu J. “Migration and Mission: Some Implications for the Twenty-first-Century Church” International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol.27, no. 4, 2003: 146-153.
Heikes, Laura. “Una Perspectiva Diferente: Latin Americans and the Global Mission Movement,” Missiology. Vol. XXXI, No. 1k January 2003: 69-85)
Hirschman, Charles et al. (eds.) The Handbook of International Migration: The American Experience. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. 1999.
Jacques, Andre. “Migration.” In Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movements. N. Lossky et al., eds. Geneva/Grand Rapids, MI: WCC/Eerdmans. 1991:679-681.
Jana Evans Braziel and Anita Mannur, Theorizing Diaspora: A Reader. Blackwell Publishing 2003
Juan, E. San, Jr. “Critical Reflections on the Filipino Diaspora and the Crisis in the Philippines” http://quezon.buffaloimc.org/news/2004/01/67.php Sunday January 11, 2004 at 03:17 PM
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Massey, Douglas “Why does Immigration Occur? A Theoretical Synthesis,” In The Handbook of International Migration: The American Experience. Charles Hirschman et al. (eds.) New York: Russell Sage Foundation. 1999:34-52.
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National Conference of Catholic Bishops, “One Family Under God.” Washington, D.C. Office of Publishing and Promotion Services. 1998.
Naseem, S.M. “Diaspora and Development” (http://www.dawn.com/2004/01/19/ebr2.htm.)
Pessar, Patricia R. “The Role of Gender, Households, and Social Networks in the Migration Process: A Review and Reappraisal,” In The Handbook of International Migration: The American Experience. Charles Hirschman et al. (eds.) New York: Russell Sage Foundation. 1999:34-52.
Ripley, David L. “Reaching the World at Our Doorstep,” Evangelical Missiology Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 2, 1994. Also available at the following link: http://bgc.gospelcom.net/emis/1994/reaching.html
Stromberg, Jean S. “Responding to the Challenge of Migration: Churches within the Fellowship of the World Council of Churches (WCC),” Missiology: An International Review, Vol. XXXI, No. 1, January 2003,:45-50.
Shipp, Glover. “Research: A key to successful urban evangelism” In Journal of Applied Missiology, April 01, 1990.
Taylor, William David, and Zacharias, Ravi (eds.). Global Missiology for the 21st Century: Reflections from the Iguassu Dialogue. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House (January 2000)
Temfwe, Lawrence, “Aliens in Our Own Country” Jubilee Center, Mar 22, 2004.
(http://www.strategicnetwork.org/index.php?loc=kb&id=13960&mode=v&)
Tsutada, Joshua “Global Cooperation and Networking.” Korean World Missions Association, Dec 19, 2000.
“Vietnam reaps diaspora windfall.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2538455.stm
Wan, Enoch. “Mission among the
Chinese Diaspora: A Case Study of Migration and Mission.” Missiology. Vol.
XXXI, No. 1, January 2003:35-43.
APPENDIX 1 - Helpful sites for further research including info for specific
groups
Premier Links:
Africa
http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum211/linksDiaspora.htm
http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?category=News%20from%20the%20Diaspora
African Diaspora Central
http://www.grad.cgu.edu/~ruffinh/african_Diasporacentral/
(News Engines and Online Papers; Politics, Law, Labor, and Living; Sports. Daily Concerns)
Essay, images, and terminology. From:educate.si.edu/migrations/rasta/rasta.html
Provider of African-American daily news and educational resources and home of Microsoft's Encarta Africana. From:www.africana.com/
Amernia
Armenia Diaspora Conference Official Web Site. Information on ADC projects, business and ecnomic news and reviews, useful links and more about...
From:www.armeniaDiaspora.com/
Arab Diaspora
http://www.arabinfoseek.com/arab_Diaspora.htm
Asian Diaspora
http://www.time.com/time/asia/2003/journey/graphics/migration_map.html
Chinese Diaspora
http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/chu/chinos/Diaspora.html
Bibliography of the South Asian Diaspora and East Africa: an annotated bibliography
http://coombs.anu.edu.au/Biblio/biblio_sasiaDiaspora.html
Bi-lingual (English & French) Pan Africa news update
Border Crossings (with list of helpful links)
http://www.uiowa.edu/~commstud/resources/bordercrossings/Diaspora.html
Filipino Diaspora & OFW (Overseas Filipino Workers)
Tanikalang Ginto www.filipinolinks.com Philippines : Filipino ...
www.filipinolinks.com/Filipino_Diaspora/
Migration Information Source
http://www.migrationinformation.org/GlobalData/
(fresh thought, authoritative data with searchable global data by country & glossary)
South Asian
http://www.samarmagazine.org/archive/keyword.php?id=24
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/interreligious/cd33-09.html
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/international/uprooted/cambroch.html
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/international/uprooted/upindex.html (Quarterly Newsletter)
Afghan Diaspora
http://www.developmentgateway.org/node/134111/browser/?keyword%5flist=584206&country%5flist=0
African Diaspora
Essay, images, and terminology.
From:educate.si.edu/migrations/rasta/rasta.html: The African Diaspora, Ethiopianism, and Rastafari
www.educate.si.edu/migrations/rasta/rasta.html
www.lanic.utexas.edu/la/region/african/
www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/africa/cuvl/Diaspora.html
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/africa/cuvl/Diaspora.html
Angola Diaspora
http://www.angola.org/referenc/Diaspora/
Armenian Diaspora
http://users.erols.com/guerig/
http://www.armenianDiaspora.com/
http://www.armembassycanada.ca/Diaspora/Diaspora.htm
Belarusian Diaspora
http://www.belarus-misc.org/bel-diasp.htm
Chinese Diaspora
http://www.huaren.org/body.shtml
http://www.hardboiled.org/2-3/Diaspora.html
http://www3.telus.net/arts/wunbu/ht_riot.html
Congolaise
Filipinos in the Diaspora
Greek Diaspora
http://www.greece.gr/GLOBAL_GREECE/index.htm
http://www.anemos.com/Diaspora/nep/
http://www.omogenia.com/newspaper/newsDiaspora.htm
Haitian Diaspora
http://www.teleDiaspora.com/Links.htm
http://www.haiti-usa.org/modern/evolution.php
http://www.hmtcc.org/Diaspora.html
Hispanic Diaspora
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2000/07/Diaspora.html
http://www.iesfonline.org/hispanic%20Diaspora.htm
Indian Diaspora
http://www.msn.co.in/nri/indianDiaspora/Default.asp
http://www.indianest.com/spirituality/041.htm
Irish Diaspora
http://cwis.livjm.ac.uk/soc/families/
Irish & Scottish
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/ahrbciss/Diaspora.shtml
Jewish Diaspora
http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/section/Jews_Diaspora.asp
http://www.livius.org/di-dn/Diaspora/rome.html
http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/beyond-the-pale/english/04.html
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/HEBREWS/DIASPORA.HTM
http://www.israelmybeloved.com/history_prophecy/Diaspora_2/
Beth Hatefutsoth Museum of the Jewish People -
- a museum about both Diaspora and Israeli Jewish...
Beyond the Pale: The Jewish Diaspora and Israel - 1
The Jewish Diaspora and Israel. Roman soldiers carrying off the Menorah... CONT) Map: The Jewish Diaspora...
From:www.friends-partners.org/partners/beyond-the-pale/english/04.html
www.friends-partners.org/partners/beyond-the-pale/english/04.html
Diaspora. As political aspirations subsided, the Jewish community was increasingly led by scholars and rabbis.
From:www.kids.infoplease.lycos.com/ce6/society/A0859040.html
Diaspora Religious Developments. The Conflict with Rome ... Greco-Roman Egypt [Website] Diaspora Religious Developments. WEB Old Testament...
www.kids.infoplease.lycos.com/ce6/society/A0859040.html
- migration, diaspora, refugee, ethnic relations
www.fordham.edu/halsall/jewish/jewishsbook.html
Palestinian Diaspora
http://mondediplo.com/maps/refugeesDiasporapaldpl2000
Polish
http://www3.uj.edu.pl/Polonia/
Romania
http://marinel.net/romania/rom_Diaspora.html
Scottish-Diaspora
http://tartan.communitiesofthefuture.org/scottish-Diaspora.html
Slovak Diaspora
http://www.slovakia.org/sk-american.htm
South Asian & Indian Diaspora
http://is.rice.edu/~riddle/play/sasialit/
http://vtc.ngfl.gov.uk/docserver.php?docid=6423
www.lib.berkeley.edu/SSEAL/SouthAsia/Diaspora.html
Archive of the South Asian Diaspora Bibliographic Guides ... Photographs/Documents Diaspora Project Database. Current exhibits:
www.lib.berkeley.edu/SSEAL/SouthAsia/Diaspora.html
Sudanese in Diaspora
Tatar Diaspora
http://www.kcn.ru/tat_en/politics/dfa/diaspor/diaspor.htm
Tibetan Diaspora
http://www.tibet.net/cta/Diaspora.html
Vietnam
http://www.limsi.fr/Recherche/CIG/Diaspora.htm
Vikings Diaspora
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/vikings/Diaspora.html
Western Indian Diaspora
http://www.lakeheadu.ca/~sojourners/Diaspora/Diaspora.html
Gateways Links
Border Crossings:
Diaspora a list of websites relating to Diaspora studies.
The WWW Virtual Library on Migration and
Ethnic Relations provides links to a range of related sites.
The Transnational Communities Programme
- site provides links to other sites on migration, ethnicity and Diaspora studies.
Research Centers and Institutions
The Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS)
- migration dynamics in the UK and EU
The Runnymede Trust -
independent think tank on ethnicity and cultural diversity in Britain
Institute of Race Relations
The Centre for Research in Ethnic
Relations (CRER) – race, migration and ethnic relations in UK
The Sussex Centre for Migration Research
The Refugees
Studies Centre
European
Research Centre on Migration and Ethnic Relations (ERCOMER)
- international migration, ethnic relations, racism and ethnic conflict in European context
The Centre for
Immigration and Multicultural Studies – diaspora studies in Australia
The Institute of Global Cultural Studies -
multi-disciplinary study of culture & migrants
The Center for Comparative Immigration Studies
- an interdisciplinary, multinational research on international migration and refugee
movements
Moving Here - Caribbean, Irish, Jewish and
South Asian communities in England
Black Presence: Asian
and Black History in Britain 1500-1850
- Black and Asian history in Britain from 1500 to 1850
The CASBAH - Caribbean Studies and the history
of Black and Asian peoples in the UK
South Asian Diaspora
The Centre for Applied South Asian Studies
- Indian, Pakistani and
Bangladeshi communities within Britain
The South Asian Diaspora Literature and Arts
Archive (SALIDAA) - a digital archive
South Asian Diaspora
- database for research on South Asian Diaspora
SAWNET (South Asian
Women NETwork) - a forum for South Asian women's issues
SAJA Stylebook for Covering South Asia &
the South Asian Diaspora ? Hindi and Hindu
African-Caribbean Diaspora
The Windrush web site
focuses on the African-Caribbean immigrants
Caribbean Communities in Europe (CACOEU)
the Caribbean in Europe.
VICS: The Virtual Institute of
Caribbean Studies Development and Study of the Caribbean Region
Society for Caribbean
Studies (UK) for education and research about the Caribbean
Diasporas.
Chinese Diaspora
The Chinese Diaspora site
is a general site on the Chinese Diaspora with links to other sites.
The Centre for the Study of the Southern
Chinese Diaspora (CSCSD)
Sino-Southeast Asians and Sino-Australasians
Huayinet: Chinese overseas databank
Inter-Agency Committee on Chinese Overseas Databank, Singapore.