ABSTRACT
Diasporas of the twentieth century have stretched across national boundaries, carrying their cultures with them, and consequently have conditioned the modern world deeply. The Canadian nation developed from a precarious mix of old diasporas and new, first from the British and French and then from a wider variety of cultures. Diasporas contributed actively to the creation and expansion of cosmopolitan culture in other times and places as well, even when the “nation” of origin had little or no official standing in the world’s eyes. A diaspora is a community that maintains contact with its various elements and that keeps its identity across great distances. Diasporas generally have no army and no government – they are held together by shared customs. The social and cultural structure of a diaspora originates in the homeland from which people departed, either recently or long ago. The Chinese and Italian diasporas all underscore the importance of “sojourning,” or short-term migration.
