Overseas Chinese

The term overseas Chinese applies to the over 30 million ethnic Chinese and Chinese citizens living in more than 136 countries outside of the Greater China Region (He). The overseas Chinese can also be equated to people from any of the 56 ethnic groups that originally lived in China and people of partial Chinese ancestry (New World Encyclopedia).
The overseas Chinese have become the most widespread ethnic group in the world and have played a major role in the economic development of every country they are now present as well as dominating the economies of Asian-Pacific countries. Many overseas Chinese generally have become dedicated citizens in the country in which they reside as can be seen in that they have been dubbed the 'model minority' in the US (He). In Singapore, the overseas Chinese constitute the majority of the population and many southeastern Asian countries, overseas Chinese residing in these countries control a disproportionate amount of the economy (New World Encyclopedia). For example, Chinese people living within Malaysia control more than 55% of the Malaysian economy contributing to friction with native populations (New World Encyclopedia). Due to consistently meaningful contributions to regional development there is an emphasis on their historical role in globalization today while considering the evidence of how they have often been neglected, ignored or actively suppressed (He). The oppression of the Chinese is similar to some of the oppression the Jews faced in Europe as both groups were extremely industrious and increased the competition in job markets.
Historically, Chinese emigration first occurred thousands of years ago, as early as 210 BCE in early search of "elixirs of immortality," (New World Encyclopedia).  Later,  in the 1100s, Zheng He established Chinese trade and exportation throughout the Indian Ocean, dispersing many Chinese as merchants and laborers in these new ports.  Emigration increased in the 16th century where Chinese people primarily spread throughout southeast Asia,  creating a pattern of settlement lasting through the 19th century (New World Encyclopedia).  However, the 19th century posed many problems in the Greater China region as well as global politics that affected the further dispersal of overseas Chinese. In the 1800s, starvation as well as political corruption and civil unrest in mainland China led to mass emigrations, this time, primarily to the Americas, Europe and southern Oceania (New World Encyclopedia).  Also in the 19th century, slavery was abolished in British colonies, creating a surge in demand for cheap labor. This led to the replacement of African slaves with coolies; unskilled laborers from China (New World Encyclopedia). The Coolie trade in addition to the 1849 California Gold Rush was the impetus for a surge of immigration of Chinese into the US. In fact, coolies were the primary work force that created the first transcontinental railroad in America (New World Encyclopedia). However, the increase of Chinese population led to both the US and Canada creating statutes barring Chinese entry into the countries, most notably the United States Chinese Exclusion Act (New World Encyclopedia). On the other side of the globe, the Chinese Revolution of 1911, partially funded by overseas Chinese, created another outpouring of Chinese immigrants spreading across the globe in an attempt to escape the disarray that accompanies a coup (New World Encyclopedia). In 1989, political unrest culminating in Tiananmen Square, Chinese emigration accelerated again, creating difficulty in establishing a new order in 1997 (New World Encyclopedia).

Presently, the degree of assimilation of overseas Chinese varies from place to place. In the United States, as I mentioned earlier, Chinese have become the model minority, as they are extremely competitive students and job applicants for a wide variety of career fields. However, there still exist very segregated neighborhoods of Chinese culture in most major cities (think China Town, NYC). In other countries like Myanmar, there is rarely intermarriage despite culturally adopting some Burmese traditions (New World Encyclopedia). The variance in Chinese assimilation indicates part of why much of the Chinese economic system hasn't spread or come to dominate  the US's economy. Though the Chinese have spread to every corner of the world and have become quite and industrious economic powerhouse, the lack of liberalism and the presence of policies Western countries can't or won't relate to limits Chinese economic proliferation on every level.


Works Cited

• Chinese Population Outside China. Digital image. New Geography. 23 Oct. 2011. Web.
• He, Yan. "The Importance of the Overseas Chinese." OHIO University Libraries. Ohio University, 10 July 2014. Web. 14 Apr. 2015. <http://www.library.ohiou.edu/about/collections/international-collections/overseas-chinese-collection/the-importance-of-the-overseas-chinese/>.
• "Overseas Chinese." New World Encyclopedia. New World Encyclopedia, 15 May 2013. Web. 14 Apr. 2015. <http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Overseas_Chinese>.

The Irish Diaspora

The Irish Diaspora encompasses all descendants of the original emigrants of Ireland, living abroad. The Irish diaspora was initially motivated in part due to Protestant Ascendancy in the early 17th century (Brighton). Ireland was under English rule and the indigenous Irish Catholic majority was subordinated by an immigrant Protestant minority, forcing many to relocate west or emigrate to the West Indies (Brighton). In the early 1800s, the Irish population was rapidly growing reaching eight million on the small island (Untold Stories). However, the system the British established left land in control of a very small minority of landowners forcing many to live in impoverished conditions (Untold Stories). As Brighton explains "the rural poor class formed the largest numbers of Irish population and held the least amount of land." Due to the resilience of the potato, introduced to Ireland during the Age of Conquest, people moved east to west from good land to poor soil and eventually three million "potato people" lived in Ireland, receiving 90% of their caloric intake from the root (Untold Stories). Unfortunately, this reliance set the stage for a famine of unparalleled proportion. An Ghorta Mor, or the Great Famine, occurred when the potato crop was ruined three times by fungus from 1845 to 1849. The Famine was exacerbated by the delayed reaction of the British government and led to mass evictions by the ruling class as it was a cheaper alternative that coping with starving laborers (Untold Stories). Furthermore, not only were people dying of starvation, but disease and infection spread almost instantaneously through the already weakened population (Untold Stories). With two million people (a quarter of the population of the time) either having died or left the country, the famine easily served as "the defining event in the history of modern Ireland," (Untold Stories). By 1890, two of every five Irish-born people lived outside of Ireland and by 1900 the population had almost halved, never regaining pre-famine level (Untold Stories). Also, with the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922, through the 1970s, another 1.5 million Irish left. As Brighton illustrates in his archaeological research; "the Famine period and the decades following is a time in Irish history that marks the largest global dispersal with the totality of the Irish Diaspora and had the greatest impact on the creation of Irish heritage of injustice and exile." For many years in North America, the Irish were not privileged with equal rights or job opportunities of the rest of the white population, being labeled "not white," further limiting their social status and mobility. The contemporary socio-economic situation of the Irish has prevented full understanding of the emigration of Irish people. This is significant part of the debate as to whether or not this dispersal should be considered a diaspora at all. However, I think the only reason it is even remotely being debated is because of conflict and issues with the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and England because of England's flawed colonization and ruling strategies in the 19th century. Because of England's higher status in global economics and politics, they have a much more dominant voice and could easily argue against calling this emigration a diaspora because British involvement in Irish history would not be portrayed positively whatsoever. 

More positively, the Irish diaspora has led to a large population in America and the celebration of St. Patrick's Day around the globe. Of particular personal importance,  due to the potato famine, thousands of Irish moved to New Orleans and are considered to have saved Louisiana as there wouldn't have been any way to survive without their hard work and diligent farming along the Mississippi River. Additionally, in my research, the internet was very proud to report the many famous members or descendants of the Irish diaspora:

Henry Ford

Presidents Kennedy, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Both Bush Sr. and Jr., Clinton, and Barack Obama

Che Guevara

Princess Diana

Muhammad Ali. 

The Irish diaspora has had a permanent effect on global culture by the single fact that without Irish emigration there would be no Beatles (Untold Stories).

Hopefully, in the future, more time will be invested in understanding the history of the Irish and the cultural and political impact they have had on the countries in which they now live. 

Works Cited

• Brighton, Stephen A. "The Irish Diaspora and the Creation of an Irish-American Heritage." Irish Heritage. University of Maryland Department of Anthropology, 1 Jan. 2005. Web. 13 Apr. 2015. <http://www.heritage.umd.edu/chrsweb/Ireland/ireland.htm>.
• "Welcome to Untold Stories." Untold Stories. The Leeds Irish Community : Emigration & The Irish Diaspora. Untold Stories. Web. 13 Apr. 2015. <http://www.untoldstories.co.uk/emigration.do>.
• Doyle, Henry. Emigrants Leave Ireland. Digital image. Wikipedia. 31 Dec. 1867. Web.

Brief Analysis of The African Diaspora

The African Diaspora is defined as the dispersal of people from Africa throughout history and is also deemed extremely important in today's world simply because of the population in the diaspora (Donfried). While it is consistently acknowledged that the African Diaspora is the largest and most self-evident, it's name lacks specificity to a degree that, some argue, ignores the amount of ethnic diversity that exists within the diaspora. Using the word "African" to qualify the diaspora overgeneralizes and is an inappropriate umbrella term describing hundreds of different peoples that doesn't distinguish any cultural or ethnic differences across the continent and perpetuates the hegemonic outlook of the European. Furthermore, in the history of the colonization of the Americas, Africans were the only people to be brought across the Atlantic completely involuntarily. These are two points I'd like to independently highlight because of consistent disregard and systemic disadvantages that can be attributed to these two ideas alone.
The African Diaspora can be broken up into three distinct waves: the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, Decolonization, and Post-1980s with each of these waves defining contemporary black relations. During the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, Europeans brought Africans, primarily from West Africa to Europe, North and South Americas from the 1500s to the 1900s (Donfried). Estimations peg the number of Africans transported across the Atlantic at 12 million (Donfried). This wave of the diaspora is what laid the foundation for the large African populations in the present United States and Brazil and emphasized Africa as the continent of origin emphasizing the presence of understood mutual suffering of all African nationalities across the Atlantic (Donfried). Contrary to popular belief, this was not the first time Africans were used as slaves, as a possible 18 million were transported as slaves from the 7th century to the 19th century in the Arab Slave Trade. As time progressed, colonization increased inequitable ties between Europe and Africa through the process of resource extraction and the development of industry and a capitalist system in Europe. Donfried explains, in particular, European countries that were dominant in the colonization process created "cultural and economic bonds which later facilitated migrations and the African Diaspora in Europe." The decolonization influence on the diaspora merely increased these Africa to Europe migration patterns due to Africans willingly emigrating in search of better quality of life and education (Donfried). However, though this wave of the diaspora was voluntary and massive, many left Africa for individual reasons; there is no overarching theme characterizing this period of emigration (Donfried). The third wave of the diaspora, post-decolonization, was primarily comprised of people fleeing strife in Africa. Donfried illustrates the consequences of the two previous waves; "fleeing from broken and breakable states, wars, hopeless poverty or political persecution became a major cause of emigration," a cause of emigration that remains to this day. This wave of the diaspora is omnipresent and influential at all levels of human interaction. People fleeing Africa during this time, for the most part, left with no intention of returning and honor their culture as vividly as possible in their new home (Donfried).
Interestingly enough, much of the research done on the African diaspora today focuses on African presence in Western countries rather than the effect on individual countries in Africa itself. Many of the caribbean nations have become majority African, for example, Haiti, where 95% of the population is of pure African descent with the remaining 5% primarily mulatto, or mixed.
Having such a dominant population of the diaspora in a location, helps motivate cultural conversations and exchanges that could facilitate an age of cultural understanding and acceptance. However, on the island of Hispaniola alone there are many racial disputes between Haitians and residents of the Dominican Republic. And in America, where much of antebellum oppression still exists, the physical separation of people of African descent and whites prohibits any conversation or discussion of culture or progress between the two groups. Out of sight, out of mind. Much of the argument of this scenario comes from two camps: there's the idea that people have just lived where they have always like by fact, or they have been separated by law. Originally people were separated by law and now live separately just as a matter of fact, however, this separation isn't entirely by choice as landowners refuse certain tenants based on race or background. Trends like this are inescapable and are present not only in America but can still be seen in Europe and even in Eastern societies. This is particularly noticeable among populations in the African diaspora. These inequalities and separations of location and furthermore rights is so telling of nativism and xenophobia in the present world. If everyone in the world was comfortable with someone of any ethnicity or cultural background becoming their neighbor, the percentage of peace on earth that would arise would be astronomical. This idea is such a minuscule fraction of many of the consequences of any diaspora and also a very small and individual way to gradually combat systemic racism. Combatting racism from the top down is practically impossible. I've come to the conclusion that racism has to be dealt with individually. Changing things like advertisements and music that affect our subconscious ideologies of races will help but people need to advocate individually for simply put, less hatred.

Works Cited:

• "The African Diaspora." The ICD "Experience Africa Program" Ed. Mark Donfried. Institute for Cultural Diplomacy. Web. 2 Apr. 2015.<http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/experienceafrica/index.php?en_the-african-diaspora>.
• Harris, Joseph E. The African Diaspora Map. Digital image. Exploring Africa. 1 Jan. 1990. Web.