Diaspora and Migration

Transnational communities are not simply a more neutral term for diasporas. Rather these have the potential of becoming diasporas if a collective identity is formed around ideas of a particular homeland (Levitt 2001). This has many features in common with, and is perhaps simply another process of, ethnicity formation, as demonstrated by Luraghi (2008) in his deconstruction of the Messenians.

One of the more recent shifts in the study of the ancient world has been the increasing acceptance, not only of how much people in the past moved around, but of the multiple meanings and implications of such coming and going, and — equally — of staying still. Contemporary concerns regarding human mobility, the significance of place, migration and identity loss and the forces of globalization can easily be identified as one driver behind this trend, but rich testimony (textual, epigraphic, archaeological) for such wanderings has always been there.

A focus on diaspora and migration offers possibilities for considering Greek colonization (apoikismos) in a different frame from that of comparative colonialism. Greek colonization has been a subject of intense investigation in recent years, both on the ground (fieldwork) and within a number of scholarly frameworks. The term colonization, of course, is derived from the Latin word colonia, and also carries connotations of modern colonialism and imperialism.

Diasporas – of subject peoples – have long been seen as characteristic of the Roman empire, and Rome the city has always been seen as the product of in-migration. Neither point can be fully understood without reference to a parallel, Roman, diaspora.