The Black Diaspora?

Question

Can you maybe explain to mt the Black Diaspora. I know that it was the negative way of threating blacks in American History, that is about it...

Thanks

Answer 1

Diaspora means splitting the seed. It is used as a metaphor, likening the exile of a population to moving plant seeds to different soil.

The Diaspora is used as a reference to the exile of a huge portion of the Jews from their homeland prior to the foundation of the state of Israel. It is also a way of referring to Jewish communities outside Israel.

The Black Diaspora is, in a sense, a double metaphor - comparing the taking of Africans from Africa not only to the spreading of seeds, but also to the Diaspora (i.e. of the Jews).

In the case of Africa, the numbers were far greater (tens of millions of people), but there are certain important differences between the Diaspora and the Black Diaspora.

The Diaspora of the Jewish people was caused by an abrupt event - the Roman destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE. (I recall something about dispersal of Jews throughout the Middle East during the Babylonian Captivity almost 700 years earlier - this was not, as I recall, referred to as "Diaspora.")

On the other hand, the African Diaspora (a term I'm more familiar with than "Black Diaspora") was caused by an event spanning four centuries. Therefore, the Diaspora would have seemed a lot more drastic.

Also, the Roman province of Judea was so hostile to Jews that the majority left, but Africa was not so hostile to Africans that the majority left. So in terms of proportion within the "group", the Diaspora was greater than the African diaspora. (An important point to make here is that the Jews in 70 CE largely thought of themselves as a nation, whereas the Africans during the Atlantic slave trade (roughly 1425-1875 CE) and the Indian Ocean slave trade (even more roughly 800-1900 CE) thought of themselves as belonging to various nationalities.

The African Diaspora also refers to the communities of people of African ancestry spread around the world, with major concentrations in Brazil, the Caribbean and Central America, and the southern United States, but also ports and old capitals around southwest Asia and the western Indian Ocean.

Let me take a moment to dispel anyone's anger that I compared the taking of slaves to the replanting of seeds. That's only my understanding of the ethymology of the term. It's a weak metaphor. I don't know enough Greek to suggest a suitable replacement - something about uprooting and killing off about half in transit would suit the facts better.

Answer 2

The use of the word diaspora is not limited to the Jews. See wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaspora

See the wikipedia link below for more info on African diaspora.

The African Union has defined the African diaspora as "[consisting] of people of African origin living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship and nationality and who are willing to contribute to the development of the continent and the building of the African Union." Its constitutive act declares that it shall "invite and encourage the full participation of the African Diaspora as an important part of our Continent, in the building of the African Union."

Most societies that apply the black label on the basis of a person's ancestry justify it as applying to members of the African diaspora. Between 1500 and 1900, approximately four million African slaves were transported to island plantations in the Indian Ocean, about eight million were shipped to Mediterranean-area countries, and about eleven million were taken to the New World. Their descendants are now found around the globe. Due to intermarriage and genetic assimilation, just who is a descendant of the African diaspora is not entirely self-evident.

Answer 3

"Diaspora" refers to how EVERY Jew was removed from his and her land by the Romans and forcibly exiled elsewhere, mostly as slaves. They were "dispersed" to the nations, yet maintained their linguistic, religious, cultural, and national identity thru the next 1800 years. Then, those who inherited the Roman empire saw that they were behaving themselves, and put them back in their land.
There was not a "black diaspora" but there was some kidnapping of some blacks (tiny percentage) and most of the blacks remained where they were, in Africa. (And some were sold by their own chiefs who were eager for easy money.)
To use "diaspora" to describe the tragedy that happened to blacks is only cheapens the word in an attempt to minimize the tragedy that happened to the Jews (and maximize their own.)
Personally, I thought "Kidnap, rape, and torture" were sufficient to describe their tragedy.

Answer 4

All too often the term "Black Diaspora" refers to the process of taking black people from Africa and spreading them round places foreign to them, and to which they would not have gone willingly. All too often consideration of this subject focuses on that part of the Atlantic Slave that took slaves to North America, and ignores the equally large slave trade to Brazil and South America. Such discussion very rarely note the Indian Ocean Slave trade which for centuries saw captured slaves taken from Africa to Iraq and Iran. Although it was never as intense as the Atlantic slave trade while it lasted, the Indian Ocean Trade in slaves went on for centuries longer, and it is almost certain that the number of victims was greater. Nor is it often mentioned that slavery continues in the Horn of Africa and Saudi Arabia to this day. Another black horror that is rarely commented on was the seizure of South Sea Islanders in the Pacific to work on plantations - an activity known in its time as "Blackbirding". Happily that did not go on for too long as the British Navy cracked down on it, but it devastated communities affected.