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Photo: PLBechly, wikimedia commons
Transnational lives in the shadow of repression: diaspora youth and the struggle for democracy
Research project
Active research
Short description
This research project investigates the role of the second-generation diaspora and young people in the diaspora in transnational struggles for democracy. Authoritarianism is, alongside armed conflict, a key factor for forced migration, and non-democratic regimes increasingly seek to stifle dissent not only within but increasingly also across borders. Given the special position of the second-generation diaspora and diaspora youth, who have roots in at least two countries, the project aims to better understand how authoritarian regimes engage with or control these groups, as well as the ways in which they either support or resist these regimes.
Project members
- Camilla Orjuela, University of Gothenburg
- Arne F. Wackenhut, University of Gothenburg
- Nicole Hirt, German Institute for Global and Area Studies
Background
The project seeks to answer the following research questions:
- What strategies do repressive states employ to mobilize and/or control their second generation diasporas?
- What are the motives, opportunities and obstacles for second generation diasporas to mobilize in support of repressive government of their homeland?
- What are the motives, opportunities and obstacles for second generation diasporas to mobilize against repression in their respective homeland states?
The project is designed as a qualitative comparative case study of four authoritarian states in Africa and the Middle East with sizable diasporas. It identifies relevant groups, organizations and initiatives in Sweden, Europe and the world. The researchers analyze policy documents and other documentation, and also conduct interviews with relevant actors. An important outcome of the project is also a special issue of the journal Globalizations, where a larger group of experts have contributed articles about various cases.
Publications
Special issue of Globalizations:
- Orjuela, C., Wackenhut A. F., Hirt, N. (forthcoming). Authoritarian states and their new generation(s) diasporas: an introduction.
- Baser, B., & Böcü, G. (2024). Youth responses to state-manufactured diaspora mobilization: Turkey’s diaspora governance and the politics of selective engagement.
- Ding, S. (2024). Changing Diasporic Identity and Increasing Global Backlash: China’s Challenges of Engaging Young Generation Overseas Chinese in the Post-pandemic Era.
- Féron, É. (2023). ‘Throwing in my two cents’: Burundian diaspora youth between conventional and transformative forms of mobilization.
- Hirt, N. (2023). ‘My parents told me to love my country’: positionalities of second-generation diaspora Eritreans in a transnational setting.
- Lee, J., & Dukalskis, A. (2024). Reaching for the past: North Korea’s engagement with Koreans in Japan.
- Moftizadeh, S. (2024). From society to cyberspace: contentions with authoritarianism amongst second-generation Kurdish students in London.
- Karabegović, D. (2024). Fixing things from the outside? Diaspora politicians and transnational political engagement.
- Orjuela, C. (2023). The ‘ideal citizen’abroad: engaging Rwanda’s young generation diaspora.
- Wackenhut, A. F. (2024). Between (de-)mobilization, polarization, and transnational repression: the Egyptian diaspora in the wake of the January 25 uprising.
Other academic publications:
- Hirt, N. & A.S. Mohammad (2024). How Diasporas Contribute to Authoritarian Governance: The case of Eritrea, in Moss, D. and S. Furstenberg (eds.) Transnational Repression in the Age of Globalisation, Edinburgh University Press, 165-184.
- Hirt, N. (2024). The Long Shadow of the Eritrean Independence Struggle: Transgenerational transmission of trauma across diaspora generations, in Kromják, L. & A. Karamehić-Muratović (eds.): Intergenerational Trauma in Refugee Communities. Routledge.
- Wackenhut, A. F. (2024). Tracing Shifting Host Country Problematization(s) of Transnational Repression: The Evolution of Swedish Efforts to Counter “Refugee Espionage.” Democracy and Security, 1–18.
- Wackenhut, A.F., Orjuela, C. (2023). Engaging the next generation: authoritarian regimes and their young diaspora. Eur Polit Sci 22, 143–158.
- Orjuela, C. (2023). Diaspora Memory Conflicts: Struggles over Genocide Commemoration, Recognition and Denial. Ethnopolitics, 22(4), 453–470.
- Wackenhut, A. F. (2022). On the Receiving End of Diaspora Engagement Policies: Evidence from the Turkish Diaspora in Sweden. Middle East Critique, 31(4), 371–384.
- Hirt, Nicole & Eden Mengis (2022). Eritreer*innen in der Diaspora: der Einfluss des eritreischen Regimes und regimetreue Strukturen in Deutschland. In Randi Becker & Philipp W. Kranemann (eds.): Endlich in Sicherheit?, 73-100.
- Hirt, N. & A. S. Mohammad (2022). The Limits of Diaspora: Double Vulnerabilities among Eritreans in Saudi Arabia. In Dalia Abdelhady & Ramy Aly (eds.): Routledge Handbook on Middle Eastern Diasporas, 78-88.
- Hirt, N. (2022). Thirty Years of Autocratic Rule: Eritrea’s President Isaias Afewerki between innovation and destruction. In J-N Bach (ed.): Routledge Handbook of the Horn of Africa, 317-326.
- Orjuela, C. (2022). Navigating labels, seeking recognition for victimhood: Diaspora activism after mass-atrocities. Global Networks 22(1): 166-179.
- Karabegovic, D. & C. Orjuela (2022). Diasporas in peace and conflict, in O. Richmond & G. Visoka (eds.): The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies.
- Hirt, N. (2021). Eritrea’s Chosen Trauma and the Legacy of the Martyrs: The Impact of Postmemory on Political Identity Formation of Second-Generation Diaspora Eritreans. Africa Spectrum. 56(1):19-38.
- Hirt, N. & A. S. Mohammad (2021). Eritrea’s self-reliance narrative and the remittance paradox: Reflections on thirty years of retrogression. Remittances Review. 6(1).
- Orjuela, Camilla (2020). Passing on the torch of memory: Transitional justice and the transfer of diaspora identity across generations, International Journal of Transitional Justice, 14(2): 360–380.
- Wackenhut, Arne (2020). Understanding Protest Diffusion: The Case of the Egyptian Uprising of 2011. Palgrave McMillan.
Popular science publications
- Hajdini, Fortesa (2023). Non-resident, non-citizen voting in Kosovo. School of Blogal Studies
- Hirt, Nicole (2021). Forced Migration from Eritrea and Regime Stabilization, MAGYC Policy Brief.
- Orjuela, Camilla (2020). Unga tamiler i diasporan engagerar sig för rättvisa i Sri Lanka, Sydasien.