| With the increasing prominence of transnationalism, often viewed as a byproduct of the loosely defined concept of globalization, de-territorialization and 'diasporic identity' are projected as the paradigmatic future of the global socio-spatial system. Such theories, not unlike those advanced by advocates of 'modernization erasure' in the post-World War II era, deny the significance of the people/place bond and regard homelands as rapidly becoming anachronistic. This dissertation challenges the notion of an imminent pervasiveness of de-territorialization (homeless-ness as a norm) and irrelevance of homelands by examining the divergent reactions of a multigenerational diaspora to the emergence of an independent ethno-national 'kin state.'; By combining data derived from surveys, interviews/focus groups, and extensive library/archival research, this dissertation explores why roughly half of the members of the Mongolian-Kazakh community opted to migrate to Kazakhstan and half decided to remain in Mongolia. Examination of the nationalization projects in both the host-state and kin-state, provides insights into the interrelated processes of identity and homeland construction. Positing an interactive structure wherein local, state, regional, and global discourses constitute and reconstitute groups of people as 'insiders' and 'outsiders,' the process of deterritorialization is revealed to be invariably connected to a subsequent re-territorialization.; With more than 73 million people of the former Soviet sphere living beyond the borders of the administrative region defined as the homeland for their respective ethnic groups, the condition of the Mongolian-Kazakhs is far from unique. While this commonality of 'diasporic' existence in the former Soviet sphere makes this project relevant beyond the specific case study, this dissertation also makes clear that not every diasporic condition is the same. The term 'displacement' and even the label 'diaspora' must be considered in relation to attachments of groups and individuals to local homelands that have developed over time. Furthermore, greater attention needs to be paid to the effect of trans-border/trans-national territorial attachments and the vast potential for hybridity of identity among "dispersed" peoples. |
