ABSTRACT
Diasporas can be understood as groups of dispersed people who share symbolic and/or material associations to an idealized homeland, which may or may not take the form of an existing nation-state. This chapter focuses on art as an intentional form of creative expression through various mediums such as music, theatre, film, photography, illustration, literature, poetry and sculpture. In their practice, artists are often doing many things at once, including deep introspection, social observation and commentary, expressing personal feelings and ideas, and speaking and catering to an external audience. In his seminal work on the black Atlantic diaspora, Paul Gilroy discusses the convergence of musical traditions, and the power that this had in the emergence of 'blackness' as a distinct social, political and cultural identity in the United States and Britain. For social scientists, diasporic artistic practice and products are invaluable both as analytical material and tools.
