Mobilising towards and imagining homelands: diaspora formation among U.K. Sudanese

ABSTRACT

This paper examines diasporic identity formation among Sudanese migrants in the U.K. From constructivist perspectives, diasporas form when mobilisations towards a ‘homeland’ initiate processes of collectively imagining that homeland. These mobilising agendas have been analysed as either emotional and/or political and correspond to processes of collective remembering, forgetting or future-making. Drawing on interviews with, and observations of, Sudan-born residents of the U.K., this paper examines diaspora formation among U.K. Sudanese. It asks what mobilising agendas unite U.K. Sudanese and what kinds of imaginative processes orient them towards their shared homeland(s). This investigation uncovers how multiple and seemingly contradictory processes of diasporic identity formation overlap within the same ‘national’ migrant community. It analyses how different mobilising agendas initiate imaginative processes of ‘past-making’ and ‘future-making’ which correspond to various types of diasporic identity. In doing so, this paper contributes to debates within constructivist approaches to diaspora formation.

KEYWORDS:

• Diaspora
• homelands
• diasporic imagination
• diasporic mobilisation

Acknowledgements

Thanks to my Ph.D. supervisors Uma Kothari and Tanja Müller who supported the research from which this paper is taken. A draft of this paper was presented at the Association for the Study of Nationalities Conference in April 2016. Many thanks to discussant Lisa Koriyushkina and panellist Daniel Naujoks for their insightful comments and suggestions. The comments of anonymous reviewers were extremely helpful in shaping this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Cathy Wilcock http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0622-6815

Notes

1 In this paper, ‘Sudan’ refers to post-secession North Sudan. When referring to pre-secession Sudan, which includes South Sudan, ‘Former Sudan’ will be used.

2 There are approximately 22,000 Sudanese resident in the U.K. (IOM 2011) making it only the seventieth largest sending country for foreign-born U.K. residents (UN 2015). Statistics refer to Former Sudan.

3 This study agrees with the definition of diaspora as linked to the act of migration and therefore does not engage with second-generation members of minority communities.

Additional information

Funding

The material is based upon PhD research supported by the University of Manchester.