|
This forum was set up on 1st August 2003. The name New Diaspora tells it all- it is not about Goa per se – the GoaNet list (run by Fred Noronha) caters to Goa-related & perhaps India-wide issues. Likewise, our forum is not specifically about East Africa – the wide ranging Namaskar-Africana list (run by Ben Pereira) has a special interest in East Africa. Both Fred and Ben are members of this forum. Of course, we are interested in Goa, sub-continent or East Africa if there is a diaspora connection (see 1b below).
1. Subject matter
a) Life in the host country [where we are perceived as minorities]: - our problems, endeavours & achievements in education, Arts, media etc, our assessment of the host society & their institutions, interaction with host groups & local communities. b) Relations with the homeland. - professional contacts, community projects, cultural exchanges, responses to political & economic developments of concern to the diaspora. c) Relations between (i) host & homeland, (ii) the West & the Third World This category throws up a huge range of issues: colonial history, values & beliefs, religion & morality, cultural (including religious) conflicts, tourism, foreign policy implications, globalisation, the new imperialism. -------------------------------------------------------- The forum will endeavour to operate broadly within this conceptual framework, while not being unduly inflexible.
2. Beyond the armchair exchange of views It is all very well to inform & be informed but can the more fortunate among us go further and assist disadvantaged communities (here & in the homeland)? And can we the diaspora use our skills – to challenge stereotypes & misrepresentations, re-claim our histories, promote our Arts, correct orientalist discourse in the mainstream academia & media? All this may sound farfetched but several members of this forum have been doing good work in these areas for sometime. |
|
|
|
|