Radical Diasporas
Papers for this panel should explore one or more texts that propose, depict, suggest or imply a radical form of diaspora — radical in the root sense of the term: where the geographic or historical dispersal of elements has been cut off from its grounds in a future place or time. One point of departure for the panel is a text written by Ahad Ha’am (Asher Ginsberg) in 1909, whose title is translated as “Negation of Diaspora.” In it this figurehead of “cultural Zionism” lays out the paradox of any diaspora: that it only exists in and through the wish to annihilate itself. The negation of diaspora is the root of the thought of diaspora, according to Ahad Ha’am. A radical diaspora, therefore, would attempt to conceive of a non-self-negating dispersal. Another way to think of this is as a diaspora without a promise, whose historical and geographical structure is not defined against the expectation of eventual consolidation.
There are no ethnic, national, historical or other restrictions on the locus for your reading. Readings of literary texts are particularly welcome, but objects in any genre that treats this topic will be considered, legal documents, philosophical systems, treatises in political theory, films, poetry, visual art, and others.