The Funambulist #43

Welcome to the 43rd issue of The Funambulist, the first of the eighth year of the magazine’s existence. It approaches the diasporic question through various political aspects, from the asset they constitute in their respective national struggles, to the political imaginaries they can provide to the anti-racist Left. The issue particularly addresses the colonial formation of diasporas through enslavement (Atlantic Afro-Diaspora, Raphaëlle Red), indenture (Indian diaspora in Guyana, South Africa, Mauritius, and Fiji, Maria del Pilar Kaladeen, Sumayya Vally, Gitan Djeli, and Shivanjani Lal; Chinese diaspora in Polynesia, Karine Shan and Yiling Changues), or forced labor (Korean Zainichi in Japan, Hyewon Song). Refugeehood is also central to it and questions the diasporic role in struggles at home (Eelam Tamils in Western Europe, Abinaya Nathan), as well as the conceptualization of a “refugee settler” condition (Vietnamese in Guåhan and Palestine, Evyn Lê Espiritu Gandhi). In some cases, the idea of a “radical diasporism” is seducing, but important to nuance (Jewish diaspora, Ben Ratskoff). Cultural production, and more specifically music, is approached in a political manner to describe the diasporic condition (Cape Verdeans in Portugal, Sónia Vaz Borges and Flávio Zenun Almada). Finally, the metaphor of diasporas as constellations suggested by the cover’s artwork is brought to us by Inès di Folco.