"Stephane Dufoix has written the most exhaustive, critical, and analytically sophisticated introduction to diasporas. It resists overemphasizing the transformative power of the present era of globalization and puts the formation of diasporas in a perspective of longue duree that includes previous periods of global integration and diasporic dispersion. Similarly, he avoids the 'beyond the nation-state' trend in the transnationalism literature and shows convincingly that diasporas are intimately linked, in various and contradictory ways, to the politics of the contemporary nation-state."--Andreas Wimmer, University of California, Los Angeles "A work of exemplary range, clarity, and erudition, providing both an introduction and a deft critical reformulation. Diaspora, for Dufoix, is both a complex history and a cluster of proliferating discourses and practices whose future is undetermined. A lucid introduction and an original contribution to scholarship." --James Clifford, University of California, Santa Cruz "By carefully tracing its origins and development, Stephane Dufoix has produced an elegant and richly rewarding guide to the concept of 'diaspora.' The word can be used both too narrowly (confining the idea to the Jewish case) and too broadly (allowing virtually all minorities to qualify). We need a sure-footed guide to the complexities and ambiguities of 'diaspora' and we have found one in Stephane Dufoix. I warmly recommend this instructive book."--Robin Cohen, University of Oxford, and author of Global Diasporas "Stephane Dufoix has given us a brilliant exploration of the many meanings and boundaries of the term 'diaspora'. Its far longer and diverse history than is commonly thought will come as a surprise to some. Dufoix's theoretical and analytical engagement with the term, and the erudition he brings to it, are an invitation to a whole new debate."--Saskia Sassen, author of Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages "In Diasporas Stephane Dufoix gives us an excellent introduction to and overview of a fascinating and very complex topic. Considering this phenomenon from a variety of perspectives, including etymological, historical, and cultural, he shows how different populations and groups of scholars have used the idea of diaspora to conceptualize their own identities, and the strengths and weaknesses of using the concept of diaspora to do so. Dufoix's discussion of space and contemporary virtual communities is particularly fascinating. This is a very welcome addition to an ever-growing literature."--Tyler Stovall, University of California, Berkeley

People from the British and Irish Isles have, for centuries, migrated to all corners of the globe.Wherever they went, the English, Irish, Scots, Welsh, and and even sub-national, supra-regional groups like the Cornish, co-mingled, blended and blurred. Yet while they gradually integrated into new lives in far-flung places, British and Irish Isle emigrants often maintained elements of their distinctive national cultures, which is an important foundation of diasporas. Within this wider context, this volume seeks to explore the nature and characteristics of the British and Irish diasporas, stressing their varying origins and evolution, the developing attachments to them, and the differences in each nation’s recognition of their own diaspora. The volume thus offers the first integrated study of the formation of diasporas from the islands of Ireland and Britain, with a particular view to scrutinizing the similarities, differences, tensions and possibilities of this approach.

A journal of studies in Jewish history especially in legal and economic history of the Jews.