The Accidental Americans: A Study on Loss of Identity and Migration

The concept of diaspora refers to the migration and dispersion of people from their place of origin, resulting in a sense of homelessness and loss of identity. This phenomenon is not limited to one region or culture, as evidenced by examples such as the American Diaspora, Chinese Diaspora, and African Diaspora. The roots of these diasporas can be traced back to historical events, wars, and economic factors that led to mass migration and displacement. As a result, individuals often experience feelings of disconnection from their homeland and struggle to establish a new sense of identity in their adopted countries.

Running head: THE GLOBAL IMPACTS OF DIASPORA
THE GLOBAL IMPACTS OF DIASPORA
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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RESEACH QUESTION
The major concern of the report is to focus on the issues of Diaspora and the global
implications of the same. The further concern of the report is the people related to this and the
experience of them. The major quarry that has risen in this report is the changes and the
situation that the people had to go through while going through this change.
BACKGROUND
There is a huge difference between refugee and Diaspora. Refugees are those people
who migrate from their place to some other place for a shorter period. Diaspora is to adapt
with a particular area. By saying, this one means to adapt with the culture, food and even with
the beliefs of that region. It is the state of homelessness. The movement from one place to
another and the process of adaptation to that place is the idea of Diaspora. It means breaking
the boundaries of state and nation. The term Diaspora can be traced back to the twentieth
century in Greek. The term means to scatter or to spread. The idea came from the spread of
Jews from the Israel (Mirzoeff, 2014). The idea developed more from this incident. They
were abolished from their own homeland. The Diasporas are of different types and are for
different reasons. Some aim at returning to the homeland, some are attached to their
homeland because of the political reasons. Diaspora is a variation of migration.
THE CASE AND THE RESEARCH
Some migrations are the result of imperialism; some are because of the trade and
commerce. The person who shifts from one place to another faces the diasporic predicament
due to the lack of proper relationship with the host country. They feel a sense of
homelessness. It is however not same for all. There is a hope that the left ones will return to
his own homeland at once. The major change found due to the Diaspora is the language

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change and the cultural change. The newly settled members find it difficult to adapt with the
new conditions of the new place. Diaspora is a global phenomenon. There are various
instances of different Diasporas (Brettell & Hollifield, 2014).
African Diaspora is the remarkable one where the Europeans and the Arabs enslaved
the Africans in the nineteenth and twentieth century (Burrell, 2016). The Arabs took
maximum people from Africa as their slaves and sold them in the markets of Middle East.
The Europeans took the slaves from the western and the central parts of the continent and
sold them in the markets of Europe and America. At present many descends are found in the
America (Walvin, 2016). In the later years, inter race marriages were held between the blacks
and the non-blacks. During the Spanish exploration, the Africans voluntarily moved on to
Africa and Europe (Mercer, Page & Evans, 2013). The African Diaspora was to some extent
the result of the voluntary movement. Apart from the slave trade, it was just the voluntary
action. African Diaspora is the loss of identity. It is the feeling of statelessness with the
advent of the colonial rule. Few glimpses of it are captured and found in some literary texts as
well for example, “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad. The predicament is well observed
in the text where there is a dilemma of the race and the imperialism. The loss of identity is the
prime factor in it (Falola & Sanchez, 2016).
American Diaspora is comparatively low compared to the entire American
population. The Americans gets low official permission to reside in some foreign land. The
main reasons of the emigration are mainly the economic reasons, employment and marriage.
The economic problem has remained a major problem in America throughout. The better
economic opportunities outside America remained the major reason for the shifting of the
mass from America to some other country. The situation can also be viewed from the other
way round. America witnessed much immigration from the other countries as well. It saw the
advent of many immigrants (Favell, 2015). The reason of the immigrations was same as well.

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The economic conditions, the social factors, and the educational factors were the main factors
of immigrations. The children born in America are the official citizens of America. They are
given the official right to stay there. While they return to their own place of identity, they are
still known as the citizen of US living abroad. They are frequently called the accidental
Americans. They suffer the loss of identity both in the place where they were born and in
their own place of origin. The feeling of homelessness remains in both the places, in America
as well as in their native place. During the American revolutionary war, there was a huge
increase in the American Diasporas. The Americans mainly shifted during the war to Canada
and Britain (Ma Mung, 2005). During the First World War and the Second World War, a
huge mass of population shifted to England (Tropicalimaginary.com, 2017). Great authors
also relocated themselves to Europe in order to get better cultural situation. The Europeans
also migrated to America in huge numbers (Geddes, A., & Scholten, 2016). The main
problem in the American Diaspora is the problem of taxation. America imposes tax on the
members who stay abroad as well. The problem was so serious that the citizens decided to
give up the citizenship of America. The citizens suffered the sense of loss of identity in
America as well as in the overseas land. They had no particular identity of any particular
place. They faced the predicament in their homeland as well as in the foreign land. The cold
war and the civil wars fueled the problem. Living in some other country was something not a
desirable one. The foreign country denied them the permanent citizenship of that country and
they even lost the same from their native country. The migration therefore served just as a
temporary solution not a permanent one. The host country never could give that self-identity
to the immigrants. Therefore, the immigrant could never find attachment with any of the
countries, the native country and the one in which they shifted.
The Chinese Diaspora is another major example of loss of identity and migration to
another region. Maximum people migrated from the Mainland of china to Singapore and in

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some other Asian countries. They experienced discrimination all over. Some major
discrimination faced by them was in Philippines. The natives of the country claimed
protection from the government firstly for themselves. The Chinese were treated as the
secondary citizen and they were supposed to get the facilities after the natives. However, after
the development in the economic field the citizens of china migrated back to their nation.
Initially the maximum population in Singapore consisted of the immigrants. It was only after
the year 1930 that the native population of Singapore increased. After the industrial
revolution, the demand of the labors increased and the pressure on immigration increased
(Allen, J. 2011). The vital reason of Chinese emigration was the mass starvation that
happened in china. The people who migrated from china mainly were labors and they called
themselves as coolie. They moved to work in countries like Australia, America, Singapore,
and South Africa and in some parts of Asia. The Chinese laborers were treated badly in the
foreign countries. The labor recruiters in the markets sold them and they were harshly treated.
Some were promised of good payment and good life but some were deprived of their daily
wages. In maximum cases they were ill paid. In many cases, it has been found that the labors
suffered from the disease during the voyage to South Africa. The labors were contractual and
they sometimes could not even return to their native place after their contracts expired
because of the disease, which brought havoc death of many labors (Jianli, 2015).
ANALYSIS OF THE DATA
Diaspora is not only the shift of the people but it is also the shift of the culture and the
shift of religion. The Buddhist while migrating to china and Japan preached the doctrines of
Lord Buddha there and made it famous in the foreign land. It became means for them to
remain connected to their homeland. Diaspora existed as the linking means. The person who
migrates to some other nation has an emotional attachment with their native place. This idea

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can be argued while analyzing the situation closely. The person who transfers from Africa no
longer feels an emotional tie up with the nation. This is not same in all the cases. There are
different typologies of Diaspora. It includes the classical one, which is the Chinese, and the
migration of Jews. These are old and have a structure. There are another form of Diaspora,
which is known as the veteran type, which includes the migration of Greeks and Italians.
These are quite new but they are highly structured. The newly born Diasporas are of Koreans.
Finally, there are the Americans in Europe and Asia, which can be mentioned as the sleeping
Diaspora. The members involved in this type of Diaspora are no longer active (Buchanan,
2003).
SOLUTION OF THE DATA
To bring out a logical conclusion to this study it can rightly b stated that Diaspora is
the change of roots and routes. It includes the shifting of not only the mass but also the
culture, identity and the religion. Though the perspectives have changed now but the same is
still existing in today`s world. The reasons of migration have changed to some degree but the
consequences of it are still the same.

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REFERENCES
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Falola, T., & Sanchez, D. P. (2016). Redefining the African Diaspora: expressive cultures and
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Favell, A. (2015). Immigration, Integration and Mobility. Ecpr Press.
Geddes, A., & Scholten, P. (2016). The politics of migration and immigration in Europe.
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Jianli, H. (2015). Diaspora at War: The Chinese of Singapore between Empire and Nation,
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Mercer, C., Page, B., & Evans, M. (Eds.). (2013). Development and the African diaspora:
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Tropicalimaginary.com/ (2017). Tropics of the Imagination conference 2017 - Singapore.
[online] Tropics of the Imagination conference 2017 - Singapore. Available at:
https://www.tropicalimaginary.com/ [Accessed 16 Sep. 2017].