ABSTRACT
Instead of trying to define diasporas and then engaging in exclusionary intellectual debates about which migratory ethnic groups are diasporic and which are not, I argue that we should examine diasporicity. Diasporicity refers to the relative embeddedness of dispersed ethnic groups in transnational connections to both their ancestral homeland and to their co-ethnics scattered in various countries around the world. Diasporas are not an objective social state (that exists or does not exist) but a relative condition of diasporicity, where some ethnic groups are more diasporic than others. The concept of diasporicity can therefore be used to compare different diasporic groups as well as examine internal differences in a diaspora based on nationality, gender, or immigrant generation. I will discuss the various factors that explain why certain diasporic groups have higher levels of diasporicity than others. The chapter ends with a brief illustration of how this comparative, analytical framework can be applied to the study of the Japanese diaspora.
