Paradox(es) of Diasporic Identity, Race and Belonging

This book explores how questions about home and belonging have been framed inthediscourses on race, migration, and social relationships. It does this with the aim of envisioning alternative modes of livingand reimagining our political communities in waysthat question the legacy of colonization and constructed identities whichdetract from our sense of obligation to each other and the planet.The book questions problematiccategories of differencetotransform human relations beyond the materialism of our globalpolitical economy. Questions addressed in the volume include: In what ways are combative colonial identities of difference manufactured within ournational and global spaces of encounter? How can we expel the racialized and tribalized political identities that seek to purify and deny the complexitiesandsacrednessof being human?How do we embrace the notion that everyone we encounter is a mirror reflecting our fears of suffering and our desires for happiness? The book is set in the context of re-emerging ultra-nationalists and anti-migrant politicians on the national and international stage, advancing various strands of extreme-right and protectionist ideology couched as redemptive-welfarist strategies. The adverse impacts of these strategies seem to be reifying a possessive idea of citizenship and identity, engendering a national fantasy that portrays communities as homogenous entities inhabiting enclosed borders.Thisis essentially a compendium of conversations across the intersection of the racial, national, ethnic, spiritual, and sexual boundaries in which we live.