A new post-diasporic moment of organising: Crafting ‘East and Southeast Asian diaspora’ in the UK

Abstract

In this article, we discuss the productive ways in which diaspora has worked as a catalyst and provocateur for East and Southeast Asians in the UK. We explore how in its most radical conception, diaspora can foster progressive cultural, social and political forms of solidarity building and spaces for belonging in everyday contexts shaped by marginalisation, racial violence and state brutality. As well as connecting historical legacies with contemporary concerns and broader transnational flows and exchanges, formations of de-essentialised (de-ethnicised) diaspora can provide alternative visions of ‘Asianness’ that challenge politically regressive, neoliberal consumer and other constructions of Asian identities that homogenise, stereotype and dehumanise. We first discuss the specific ways in which the notion of ‘Asian’ diaspora is constructed in UK discourse, which highlights the legacies of empire and colonial legacies in shaping contemporary articulations of identities and forms of political mobilisation. Here, we draw attention to the invisibility of East and South East Asia diasporas, in particularly examining the hegemonic position of ‘Chinese’ over other ethnicities as well as the invisibility of East and Southeast Asian identities in relation to constructions of South Asian and Black British diasporas. Drawing on our research, we discuss how East and South East Asianness is constructed among different groups of young people in the UK. We highlight both commonalities and hierarchies among differently positioned ethnicities and show how these have been constructed in state and public discourse and also within communities. We examine the myriad ways in which differently imagined notions of ‘Asian diaspora’ becomes significant to individuals and communities, and how it offers new means of social boundary-making and creating alternative imaginations of the future. In particular, we examine the formation and visions of different groups such as BEATS, Daikon, Asia-Art-Activism, Eastern Margins, Diaspora Disco and Bitten Peach. Contestations around constructions of ‘Asianness’ in relation to gender, sexuality, political community and imperialism re-define the place of ‘Asianness’ in British and other societies. Finally, we reflect on the significant transformative role of COVID-19 on constructions of ‘Asianness’ in the UK as a catalyst for new politicised activities around civil society, community and solidarity. We also consider the related role of online platforms as a facilitator in these processes. In our conclusion, we argue that we are seeing a new proliferation of Asian diasporic consciousness in the UK. Exploring this emergence reveals both the limits and possibilities of ‘diaspora’ as a category for facilitating solidarity building and progressive politics. We suggest that the concept of ‘diaspora space’ is more useful for enabling inclusive and fluid understandings of diasporic consciousness and community building which can move beyond historical legacies and power dynamics to enable new visions.  Diaspora space also better represents the practices and activities of young East and Southeast Asian populations in the UK, which are far from unitary but instead multiple, distinctive and transformative.