ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author focuses primarily on a few terms and concepts that have mattered and persisted and that seem to the author likely to remain significant as diaspora studies moves forward; in some cases, pairs of these terms have functioned as formative binaries that will help us map the contemporary field of diaspora studies. He presents the ideas of colleagues who take other positions concerning transnational networks and social fields, positions shared by many of the referees for the journal. A formative binary for diaspora studies is that of home and homeland. The dominant theories claim an orientation towards the homeland as an essential feature of diasporic identity. If dispersion and diaspora are one set of formative binaries that bookend conceptual tensions and terminological variations in diaspora studies, 'objective' and 'subjective' mark another persistent contestation. The author considers the enabling social and political conditions leading to the explosive growth of diaspora studies that worried Rogers Brubaker.
