ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the figuring of diasporic territories from two distinct angles, from the geopolitical perspective of territories seen as the product of the interplay of politics, power and space, and from the biological perspective of territories seen as the primal need of all animals, including humans, for space and a certain distinction from their environment and from others. Diasporic territories can thus be thought of as a series of overlapping spatial envelopes made of many subjective spheres that continually deterritorialise and reterritorialise, producing a multiplicity of spheres. The discussion on territory defined as archipelago and the 'politics of verticality' provides a framework for the conceptualisation of diasporic territories through foregrounding the relationship between the representation of space and the production of power. The importance of territories as a concept also reveals itself in other situations where conflict is present, but where it does not necessarily manifest itself in the violence of war.
