Introduction and Overview
Kevin Kenny’s “Diaspora: A Very Short Introduction” explores the complex phenomenon of diaspora, using historical examples to illustrate its key characteristics. The book delves into the experiences of various groups, notably the Irish and Chinese, to provide a nuanced understanding of this concept.
The Irish Diaspora: Causes and Characteristics
The book highlights the significant scale of Irish emigration, stating: “Since 1700, somewhere between 9 and 10 million people have left Ireland for all destinations”. This exodus is particularly striking when compared to the population of Ireland itself: “Fewer than 6.5 million people live on the island today (the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland combined)”. The text also provides a comparative perspective: “By comparison, 35 million Americans list ‘Irish’ as their primary ethnic identity”.
The book differentiates between different waves of Irish emigration, noting that “most of the Irish who crossed the Atlantic in the eighteenth century were Presbyterians from the northern province of Ulster”. Their motivations included the pursuit of “land, economic opportunity, and religious toleration”. In contrast, “from the 1830s to the 1920s… Roman Catholics accounted for roughly 90 percent of the transatlantic flow”.
Several factors contributed to this mass emigration. “Almost 1 million people left Ireland for North America in the generation leading up to the famine, due to population expansion, scarce land, and the absence of an urban-industrial infrastructure”. The devastating impact of the potato famine is also emphasized: “The blight struck repeatedly in the late 1840s, devastating the Irish potato crop”. This led to immense suffering, as “between 1 and 1.5 million people died of starvation and famine-related diseases”. The famine triggered a surge in emigration: “In the ten-year period beginning in 1846, 1.8 million Irish people fled to North America, more than 300,000 settled in Britain, and tens of thousands more moved to Australia”. The book further notes that “the exodus continued throughout the twentieth century when the migrant stream was diverted mostly to Britain”.
However, the book also cautions against simplistic interpretations of Irish emigration. While acknowledging the suffering during the famine, it states: “Few historians today would agree with so sweeping a judgment, even if most would argue that the British government could have done more to provide relief”. It emphasizes the complexity of the phenomenon: “Migrants left Ireland over a period of several hundred years, and they did so for many reasons, not just to escape starvation or British oppression”.
Asian Migration: Patterns and Terminology
The book then shifts its focus to Asian migration, highlighting a distinct pattern: “Considered as a whole, Asian intercountry migration displayed a particular pattern in which short-term movement took precedence”. This is further elaborated: “The typical migrant within Asia was a sojourner rather than a permanent settler”. However, the book also acknowledges the permanent settlement of some migrants: “And large numbers of Indian and Chinese migrants settled permanently in other Asian countries, eventually forming sizable urban communities”. Nevertheless, “yet the majority of Asian migrants returned to their home countries after short periods of labor abroad,” and “many repeated the cycle several times”.
The book also addresses the term “coolie,” which was often used to describe Asian indentured laborers: “In both the Indian and the Chinese cases, indentured migrants came to be known as ‘coolies,’ a term that was often extended to cover working-class Asians in general”. The ambiguity of the term’s origin is discussed: “The etymology is unclear. Possible sources include the Tamil kuli (payment for menial labor), the Urdu quli (labor or service), the Chinese ku-li (‘bitter labor’), and the Portuguese name for the Koli people of Gujarat”. Regardless of its origin, the book emphasizes that “whatever the derivation, the term was clearly derogatory in British and American usage”.
Key Dimensions of Diaspora
The book identifies several key dimensions of the diasporic experience.

• Connection to Homeland: The importance of homeland ties is emphasized: “Attachment to a common place of origin, real or imagined, lay at the heart of the connections migrants formed abroad—among themselves, with their homelands, and with their fellow diasporans in other parts of the world”.
• Exile and Grievance: The Irish experience is presented as being strongly marked by a sense of exile: “Irish migration history was also marked by a strong sense of exile, with the famine of the 1840s casting a very long shadow over that history as a whole”. The book explains that “rightly or wrongly, many Irish migrants in the nineteenth century saw themselves as exiles, a perspective that only heightened their attachment to home”. Furthermore, “bigotry and discrimination abroad intensified the sense of grievance”.
• Experiences of Discrimination: The book provides examples of the discrimination faced by Irish migrants: “In Britain, the United States, and Australia, the Irish drew criticism for their poverty, their association with violence, and their Roman Catholicism”. This discrimination sometimes took the form of dehumanization: “This criticism sometimes included derogatory words and images portraying the Irish as inherently inferior, with their supposed outward bestiality taken as a measure of their character and intelligence”.
• Adaptation and Identity: Despite these challenges, migrants also adapted and shaped their new societies. The book notes that “many migrants before and since, they were at home abroad”. The example of the American Irish is used to illustrate this: “By insisting on their right to retain Catholicism, moreover, the American Irish expanded the limits of cultural pluralism”. Their approach was one of selective adaptation: “They would become American but, as far as possible, on their own terms”.
• Persistence of Grievance: However, the book also points out that assimilation was not always accompanied by the resolution of underlying tensions: “Yet, for all their social and political success, many Irish Americans retained a powerful sense of grievance, blaming all of Ireland’s woes on Britain, especially the continued mass migration from the island”.
• Complexities of Return: The book raises the issue of return migration, noting that despite their strong sense of home, “although they had a clearly defined geographical sense of home—unlike Jews and Africans—they did not go back to Ireland, even for short visits, when they clearly could have afforded to”. This reluctance to return is linked to the maintenance of a diasporic identity: “Doing so might have undermined the sense of exile at the heart of their ethnic culture”. The book concludes that “the American Irish were content to settle where they were”.
  The Chinese Diaspora: Scale and Networks
  The book then turns to the Chinese diaspora, emphasizing its significant scale: “Chinese migrants established sizable overseas settlements throughout Asia”. The numbers are striking: “Deploying their own migrant networks, the 20 million Chinese who migrated in the century before World War II settled most heavily in Singapore, Malaya, Thailand, Indonesia, Indochina, and the Philippines”.
  The role of networks in facilitating Chinese migration is highlighted: “Chinese networks based on family, kinship, dialect, and region provided information on work and housing, as well as funding for the passage”. The involvement of the Chinese government is also noted: “The Chinese government, meanwhile, began to forge ties with overseas Chinese communities from the late nineteenth century on, seeking their financial and political support for the homeland—a form of outreach that would assume major dimensions in both Chinese and Indian history in the twentieth century”.
  The Centrality of Homeland
  Across different diasporic experiences, the concept of “homeland” emerges as a unifying theme: “Every idea of diaspora involves connection with a homeland, whether real or imagined”. The book clarifies that “this land is often the state or nation that migrants or their ancestors left behind”. However, it also introduces the idea of a symbolic or imagined homeland: “But people can also develop an intense attachment to the idea of a homeland precisely because they do not have one”.
  The Rastafari Movement: Diaspora and Symbolic Return
  The book uses the Rastafari movement as an example of a diaspora with a strong symbolic connection to Africa. It introduces Marcus Garvey as “the principal prophet of the Rastafari movement”, who, “before leaving Jamaica for the last time in 1935 to settle in London, Garvey is said to have told his followers, ‘Look to Africa for the crowning of a black king, he shall be the redeemer’”. The book explains that Rastafarians “believe that Haile Selassie, the emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974, was the second coming of the Messiah”. Haile Selassie’s claimed lineage is also mentioned: “He traced his lineage via the Kebra Negast back to Solomon and Sheba, and their son Menelik, who brought the Ark of the Covenant from Jerusalem”.
  The book highlights the cultural expressions of Rastafarian identity: “In 1930 Ras Tafari assumed the titles ‘His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, King of Kings, Emperor, Elect of God,’ words that recur like mantras in the Rastafari culture and in the more religious forms of reggae music”. It also notes the complex relationship between the movement and its key figures: “Neither Haile Selassie nor Marcus Garvey, it should be noted, participated in the Rastafari movement. The emperor initially knew nothing of the faith dedicated to him, while Garvey was quite critical”.
  The development of Rastafarian identity is traced, with mention of Leonard Howell, who “in a book called The Promised Key (1935),… elaborated on these claims and predicted that blacks would be repatriated to Africa”. After being imprisoned, Howell “led his followers into the wilderness after his release”. “They founded a commune called Pinnacle in the hills outside Kingston, and it was there, in the 1940s and 1950s, that the Rastafari movement assumed its familiar form”.
  The book describes the distinctive cultural practices of the Rastafari: “Left to its own devices, hair naturally tangles and locks. The Rastafari came to be known as ‘locksmen’ or ‘natty dreads,’ with the word ‘dread’ signifying both fear of the Lord and alienation from Babylon”. Their sense of historical displacement is emphasized: “Seeing themselves as Israelites sent into slavery and exile, the Rastafari based their dietary and hygienic practices on Mosaic law”. The ritual use of marijuana is also discussed: “A potent strain of marijuana known as ganja or sensimilla (from the Spanish sin semillas, without seeds) assumed sacred status among them. The herb provided temporary release from alienation and insights into the cosmic and eternal”. Their social critique is captured in the phrase: “When they returned from the wilderness, the Rastafari roamed the streets denouncing Jamaican society or, as they put it, ‘chanting down Babylon’”.
  The book illustrates the evolving nature of the “return to Africa” concept in the Rastafari movement. Initially, there were high expectations of a literal return: “When it was announced that Haile Selassie would visit Jamaica for four days in April 1966, expectations peaked that mass repatriation would follow”. However, the movement’s focus shifted: “Younger members of the movement soon embraced the idea of ‘liberation before migration,’ concentrating on winning freedom and justice in Jamaica as a prelude to return”. The book stresses the symbolic power of the idea: “The idea of return did not have to be literal; it could be even more powerful in allegorical form. It was in popular culture, and especially music, that the connection with Africa assumed its most influential dimensions”. The roots of reggae music are traced to Rastafarian influences: “The Rastafari movement gave rise to a new type of music called nyabinghi, which owed much of its origin to the kumina style of singing and dancing practiced by the slaves”.
  The book acknowledges the complex relationship between reggae music and the Rastafari movement: “Many reggae stars today, despite their braided dreadlocks and obligatory references to Marcus Garvey and Haile Selassie, have little or no connection to the Rastafari movement”. “Stricter adherents of the movement seek to dissociate themselves from popular music”. However, the influence of Rastafari on reggae is undeniable: “But the connection between reggae and Rastafari is inescapable, because the greatest reggae star of all, Bob Marley, was a convert to the movement”.
  The global reach of reggae music is also discussed: “Afro-Caribbean musicians in England were major innovators in this respect. Jamaicans had been migrating to England since the 1940s, only to experience racism and intense alienation there. A vibrant Rastafari movement emerged in London, Birmingham, and other English cities in parallel with developments in Jamaica”. Reggae’s success is presented as a form of diasporic connection: “Reggae became the diasporic sound par excellence. In music, at least, the dream of a return to Africa was fulfilled”.
  Anti-Chinese Sentiment and Global Chinese Networks
  The book also touches on the experiences of the Chinese diaspora, noting instances of prejudice: “As early as 1914, King Rama VI of Siam denounced the Chinese as the ‘Jews of the East’”. “Hostility toward the Chinese intensified during the Great Depression. Siam adopted the name Thailand in 1938 to emphasize a national identity separate from that of its sizable Chinese minority. Chinese businesses faced tight regulation during the coming decades, though the ethnic Chinese in Thailand today are unusually well integrated”.
  The book provides a global context for migration: “The standard definition of an international migrant is a person who has moved from one country to another and remained there for at least a year. By that measure, an estimated 3.1 percent of the world’s population in 2010 were international migrants”.
  The Chinese government’s engagement with its diaspora is also highlighted: “The Chinese government, likewise, has worked to foster stronger diasporic links in recent decades”. The scale of the Chinese diaspora is emphasized: “Today, the number of ‘Overseas Chinese’—people of Chinese birth or descent living abroad, including foreign nationals—is estimated at 40 million. Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the United States, and Canada are the major locations. Smaller populations live in Peru, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Myanmar. Cities such as Vancouver, Sydney, and New York City have joined Singapore and Hong Kong in a global network bound together by enterprise and investment”.
  The cultural connections within the Chinese diaspora are described: “In these cities, Chinese people from around the world, who have had no prior interaction with one another, find themselves in an immediately recognizable cultural setting—the new global Chinatown”.
  The book also discusses the complex relationship between overseas Chinese and the Chinese state: “Because so many overseas Chinese today receive their elementary and secondary education in China before they go abroad for the tertiary stage, they often retain a good deal of loyalty to the state and the Communist Party. Their foreign-born children attend OCAO-run summer camps, getting in touch with their Chinese roots before returning to their permanent homes overseas. Many of the new overseas Chinese cooperate closely with the government at home and lobby energetically in its interests. Back and forth movement, especially for business purposes, is increasingly common”.
  Key Concepts and Cautions
  The book concludes by reiterating the core dimensions of diaspora: “The idea of diaspora offers a powerful perspective on migration, based on the three interrelated dimensions of movement, connectivity, and return”. It also offers a word of caution: “There are significant pitfalls in using diaspora without careful reflection”.
  Finally, the book touches on the concept of generational change within diasporas, referencing the “law of the third generation”: “According to the ‘law of the third generation’ once proposed by a historian of American immigration, the grandchildren of immigrants seek to remember what the children of immigrants tried to forget. Those who make the journey often try to release their children (the second generation) from the dead hand of the past, but the members of the third generation may wish to embrace that past as they seek to discover who they are. This theory has a certain validity, especially in the case of American history, where migrants often encouraged their children to cast off their old-world language and culture, or were forced to do so”.