What does it mean to belong – and not to belong? This podcast explores how memory, identification, and mobility shape the experience of the diaspora.

In these episodes, we delve into the emotional and intellectual landscape of diaspora. What happens when people leave their homeland – or grow up with the memory of a displacement they never personally experienced? Drawing on insights from scholars like William Safran and Okwui Enwezor, we unpack the meanings of loss, longing, and belonging. And we ask: what does it mean to be part of a diaspora today?

Part I: A Scattering

What holds a diaspora together – and what sets it in motion? In this segment, listen to Zainabu Yallo as she explores the many meanings behind the term “diaspora.”

Part II: Belonging

What does it feel like to live in a diaspora? In this episode, Irene Garcia Baena shares her personal story and reflects on identity, connection, and home.

Part III: An Intermixture

How can diaspora disrupt dominant power structures? In this final part, Dylan Duran offers a thought-provoking reflection on diaspora and hegemony.

Author: Zainabu Jallo

References

Cohen, R. (2008). Global Diasporas. Routledge.

Enwezor, O. (1997). A Question of Place: Revisions, Reassessments, Diaspora. A contribution to Transforming the Crown: African, Asian & Caribbean Artists in Britain, 1966-1996, an exhibition at the Franklin H. Williams Caribbean Cultural Center/African Diaspora Institute, New York; the Studio Museum, Harlem; and the Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, between October 1997 and March 1998, by Mora J. Beauchamp-Byrd and Franklin Sirmans.

Safran, W. (1991). “Diasporas in Modern Societies: Myths of Homeland and Return.” Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies 1.1, 83- 99.

Shepperson, G. (1976). Introduction. In M. Kilson & R. I. Rotberg (Eds.), The African Diaspora: Interpretive Essays (pp. 1-10). Harvard University Press.

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