What's (not) in a parade? Nationhood, ethnicity and regionalism in a diasporic context
Published online on March 07, 2014
Abstract
Long‐distance nationalism and political transnationalism have been concepts largely explored in the analysis of the attachments of contemporary migrants to home. In some cases, this focus on the trans‐nation has downplayed competing or complementary identifications to the home country and to the context of settlement, based on locality, region or ethnicity. Focusing on the commemorations of Portugal Day among the Portuguese diaspora in Toronto, this paper seeks to explore how the national script of the event coexists with other narratives of identity and belonging, linked to Portuguese‐Canadian ethnicity and to Azorean long‐distance regionalism. It thus argues for the need of a more balanced study of the role of national identity in diasporic contexts, able to articulate different layers of collective selfhood and belonging.