ABSTRACT
This part-theoretical, part-methodological background chapter demonstrates how this research intervenes in theories about diaspora and migration research through an assemblage approach. Wagner proposes an emergent, assemblage-based understanding of ‘diasporicness,’ as a turn away from categorizing theories in migration studies, starting with suggesting ‘descent’ and ‘place’ as dynamic practices to supplant terminology like ‘ethnicity’ or ‘nationality.’ Diasporic leisure mobilities and affective practices related to leisure consumption are incorporated as forces in dynamics of ‘diasporicness.’ Drawing on diverse theories on migration, transnationalism, and diasporic connection, as well as leisure and tourism mobilities, Wagner presents a way of considering ‘diasporic’ as an ongoing achievement of social categorization rather than a predetermined label. In so doing, this research presents a new materialist perspective on how people can be simultaneously and intimately connected to multiple places.
