Historically, political mobilization within the Egyptian Canadian community in Ottawa for homeland politics has been minimal. Yet, since 2011, its members have taken part in a wide range of activities with the hope that they could contribute to the Egyptian uprising and shape the new political environment that arose from it. What compelled them to do so, and why only since 2011? Rooted in both the literatures on diaspora and transnationalism, this thesis argues that there were two simultaneous processes behind their mobilization. First, their sense of belonging to Egypt led some individuals within the Ottawa community to give a new political aspect and meaning to their Egyptian identity, and second, a series of events linked to the Egyptian uprising acted as catalysts to turn these identity-related feelings into action, which subsequently created new rifts within the community.

Assyrians are members of a stateless nation with roots in the Middle East, although due to conflict, persecution and instability a majority of Assyrians now live in diaspora in many different countries. The Assyrian community in Sweden now numbers approximately 100.000 individuals, of which approximately 18.000 to 25.000 live in the greater Stockholm area. This thesis utilizes the example of the Swedish-Assyrian community to analyze two research topics: the political engagement of a diaspora within a host country; and diasporic efforts to maintain a distinctive culture and contribute to its own nation building while residing in diaspora, a particularly pressing question for a stateless nation, such as the Assyrian nation. This thesis utilizes ethnographic data acquired via personal interviews with Swedish-Assyrian individuals and participant observation to discuss these research subjects. With regards to diaspora political engagement, the thesis finds that Swedish-Assyrians utilize their rights as Swedish citizens and their voices as Assyrians to engage with both Swedish politics and Assyrian causes. They are motivated by both Swedish political issues and by the Assyrian national cause. The ethnographic data is further used to analyze the discourse on identity and nation-building among the Swedish Assyrian community, including the impact of the host country’s culture and policies on the diaspora group and attempts to create a unified nation through education and placing emphasis on an ethnic, rather than solely religious, identity. These efforts bring Assyrians in Sweden closer together by helping to bridge differences in language and culture, but as Assyrians internationally now find themselves also affected by the cultures of their new nations, new differences and divisions simultaneously appear.

Au cours des cinquante dernières années, les communautés turques et marocaines sont devenues les deux groupes diasporiques les plus importants en Europe occidentale, notamment en Allemagne et en France. Les États d’origine de ces populations ont développé de nombreuses politiques envers leurs ressortissants à l’étranger, parmi lesquelles l’islam occupe un lieu privilégié. Depuis des décennies, les instances étatiques officielles chargées de la gouvernance du religieux en Turquie et au Maroc, à savoir la Présidence des Affaires Religieuses (Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı) et le Ministère des Habous et des Affaires Islamiques (MHAI), soutiennent des groupes musulmans en France et en Allemagne par le biais de divers moyens, allant de l’envoi d’imams à des financements de mosquées.Comment et pourquoi la Turquie et le Maroc réussissent-ils à gouverner l’islam au-delà de leurs frontières nationales, et quelles en sont les conséquences pour le développement des champs religieux musulmans de France et d’Allemagne ? Cette étude conclut qu’à la différence de la France et de l’Allemagne, la Turquie et le Maroc conçoivent la gouvernance du religieux comme un domaine distinct de la politique publique, et ce même à l’étranger. Grâce à la coopération diplomatique et à la convergence d’intérêts interétatiques, ces deux États ont étendu leur rayonnement dans le champ religieux transnational. Ceci se manifeste par le soutien d’un modèle d’autorité religieuse légale-rationnelle et une forme d’islam national, afin de renforcer la position des instances de gouvernance du religieux des États d’origine ainsi que les frontières ethno-nationales dans les champs religieux musulmans à l’étranger. / Over the last fifty years, Turks and Moroccans have come to form the two largest diaspora groups in Western Europe, with the largest numbers in Germany and France respectively. The states of origin of these populations have developed a wide variety of policies aimed at their citizens abroad, amongst which Islam has figured prominently. For decades, the official institutions of state religious governance in Turkey and Morocco, the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı) and the Ministry of Habous and Islamic Affairs, have actively engaged in providing support to Muslim groups in France and Germany, from sending imams to directly financing mosques and the associations that run them. This doctoral thesis seeks to respond to the following questions: how and why are Turkey and Morocco able to govern Islam outside of their national boundaries, and what are the consequences for the development of Muslim fields in France and Germany? Based on over one hundred interviews carried out with diplomats, state religious officials, and non-state religious actors in all four countries, this study argues that in contrast to France and Germany, the Turkish and Moroccan states consider religious governance as a distinct domain of public policy. Thanks to diplomatic cooperation and converging interstate interests, both home states have been able to expand their religious activities within transnational Muslim fields. In particular, Turkey and Morocco seek to promote a legal-rational model of religious authority and a national form of Islam, ultimately reinforcing both the position of home state religious institutions and ethno-national boundaries in religious fields abroad.

To make sense of why states are dramatically shifting their agendas to focus on their diasporic population abroad, this project builds a theoretical model which makes sense of decisive shifts in political behavior between states and their external populations. A two-fold argument is presented to explain these shifts. First, analyses of diaspora should treat diaspora not as a bounded entity but as a process or social practice. This allows for a multi-level analysis which neither negates the role individuals play in the formation of diasporic identity nor denies the agency of states which actively engage in their own unique approach to identify, label or shape what constitutes their diaspora. Second, state-diasporic engagement practices can be better understood as an institutional practice, which in turn allow us to explain state behavioral change in terms of their diasporic populations and what factors elucidate diaspora to respond. It also allows us to ask two-fold questions - a) who the sending state targets, why they are targeted and when states increase their engagement with their diasporic populations abroad; and b) what policy tools states develop to encourage dependable contributions of the diaspora to its political agenda. These theoretical arguments are then applied to address the modern Indian state's approach and its shifting agenda to its diaspora. The intent is to provide a historical foundation from which to make sense of why the Indian diaspora evolved from a political liability under Jawaharlal Nehru to an instrument of strength in the early 1990s. This thesis concludes with an exploration of the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi's discourse and state practices and suggests that India's accelerated engagement of the Indian diaspora to be representative of a muscular Hindu nationalist agenda. In short, Modi's engagement of the Indian diaspora should be understood as part of a nation-building project which seeks to communicate to both domestic and international audiences alike that India and Indians are first and foremost Hindu. / Graduate

No description available.

This thesis is on the Turkish-speaking community, comprising Turkish-Cypriots, Turks from Turkey, and Kurds from Turkey, and ethnic community football in London, which has been conceptualised as a transnational social field. It is intended as a contribution in the debates on the growing importance of issues of diasporic communities, their identity politics, and cultural integration in a context of ‘super-diversity’. There are three major analytical themes. The first is transnational diaspora politics, which is redefined to comprise any relationship of power or interest by mobilising diasporic connections. I argue that the Turkish-speaking community uses ethnic football as a means for communal mobilisation around and representation of their ethnic identity in the public space of London, a city of unique political-economic and symbolic significance for the Cyprus Conflict which helped create the Turkish and Greek Cypriot football leagues in London. I show that the Turkish-speaking community has ever since used football to create and maintain a bridge between London and all the different locations of the community including Cyprus, Turkey, Germany, and beyond. The second major theme is collective identities and how they are (re)produced, represented, and manifested in the diaspora. I argue that the nature of the field of ethnic football as a familiar, open, and welcoming space conveniently positioned between the Turkish-speaking private sphere and the British/Londoner public space has been a major factor accounting for the effectiveness of various identity projects to be pursued within this field. Lastly, after presenting the historical link between modern competitive sports and masculinity, I claim that the one defining aspect of all the ethnic identities reproduced within the field is their masculine character. The last analytical theme is the cultural integration of immigrant communities. Without adopting a normative definition of cultural integration, I have considered the implications of involvement in ethnic community football in terms of belonging, social inclusion, marginalisation, and the psychological development and well-being of the individuals involved. The presented and analysed discussion rejects any automatic causal link between involvement in sports and integration or that involvement in mono-ethnic sporting organisations and segregation. Having reviewed a few exemplary organisations, which used football for integration purposes, and the nature of the ethnic community leagues, I have also argued in this thesis that the field of ethnic community football, again due to its specific nature, structure, and position between the private and public spaces, offers a great potential to be engaged by local and national governments in the service of integration policies.