The Funambulist #67: Diasporic Introspecions

In this issue, we propose several reflections on diasporic questions that raise delicate and complex problems within them. We look at its fantasization of the homeland with the example of Algeria (Assia Tamerdjent) or of its Indigenous history; in this case Aztecism for the Chicana diaspora (Lourdes Alberto and Floridalma Boj Lopez). We orchestrate a conversation about the articulation of a critique of a conservative diaspora simultaneously with one of the homeland’s state apparatus with the examples of Venezuela and Viet Nam (Yoletty Bracho and Minh Nguyen). We look at what happens when a diaspora’s support to its people’s political struggle is approached through an opportunistic, single-issue lens with the example of the Palestinian Chilean bourgeoisie (Pablo Abufom S.). We observe the missed opportunities for solidarity between people colonized by Europe and people colonized by the Russian Empire followed by the USSR with the history of the Congolese student diaspora in the Soviet Union (Zola Chichmintseva-Kondamambou). We examine the importance of the political context that, across a river, can drastically change for a same diaspora; in this case, the Chinese diaspora of Malaysia and Singapore (Tan Jun). We reflect on what the creolization of languages reveals and obscures in the instance of Subcontinental languages in Mauritius (Gitan Djeli). The cover artwork by Kelly Sinnapah Mary, as well as a few additional paintings of hers within the issue (alongside with a text by Caroline Honorien), are an invitation to reflect on diasporic hybridization.

In the News from the Fronts section, Ashot Gabrielyan reflects on the house he left in Artsakh during the 2023 ethnic cleansing led by Azerbaijan, Reema Hamza Yassin describes the mental health infrastructure of Baghdad, and Hajara Najeeb portrays Muslim life during Ramadan in the Delhi neighborhood of Jamia Nagar. For our “Learning With Our Elders” section, we asked Western Gu Gu Yalanji activist Uncle Graham Brady to reflect on the questions of mistakes, knowledge, and transmission.