The Context

The issue of diasporas' loyalties has been mentioned briefly in previous chapters. To accurately appreciate that issue, it must be discussed in the context of the various environments in which diasporas operate. Thus it should be emphasized again that the expanding roles and increasing involvements of ethno-national diasporas are not limited to political matters in their homelands, host countries, and surrounding regions.

As noted in Chapter 8, today diasporas are playing important roles in the ongoing global and regional processes of change in the cultural, social, and economic spheres. Both older and more recent diasporas are having important inputs into the development of pluralism and, to some extent, multiculturalism wherever they are evolving. More specifically, diasporas contribute to the emergence of new attitudinal and cultural patterns. Thus, for example, they have helped to change attitudes toward food and fashion. Likewise, they have contributed to the increase in multi-lingualism and to new developments in literature: Poets and writers who are members of the Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Pakistani, black West Indian, and Caribbean diasporas in the United States and Britain are enriching the English language and its poetry and literature. Much has been written about the major cultural contributions of African-Americans and other segments of the black diaspora. Among other things, that diaspora has contributed significantly to contemporary music, cinema, literature, and poetry.