| Historic and contemporary migration flows have sparked interest in the ways that migrant communities simultaneously adapt to their new homes and maintain ties to their homelands. The development of new fields and schools of thought such as Diaspora, Refugee, and Transnationalism Studies, has helped create nuanced and complex understandings of these increasingly salient issues. What has been slower to develop is a critical analysis of how second generation (im)migrants also build their lives, make decisions, create meaning, and form communities in ways that cross, intersect and transverse national borders. In this thesis I embark on this analytical pursuit through an examination of three cultural artefacts produced by young Ethiopian diasporans . Through this exploratory work, I challenge pervasive discourses that dominate migration literature and offer an alternative lens illuminating the ways that young diasporans produce spaces that are their own and find insightful and creative ways to express this lived experience. |
