The Diaspora Effect: The Influence of Exiles on Their Cultures of Origin

Abstract

We examine the influence exiles have on the cultures left behind. As people break from the familiar routines of country or organization, they look forward to their intended destinations, but also backward to the homes they are leaving. It is that backward glance that we suggest may have powerful reverberations. Today, about 100 million people live outside their native lands. These exiles constitute significant percentages of current populations in countries throughout the world, ranging from over 20 percent in Australia and Luxembourg to less than 5 percent in Japan and Spain (The Economist, 1997). The population dispersals that resulted in these exile populations represent on-going processes with enormous implications for economic development and cultural change. Indeed, the development of distinctive civilizations depends largely on the knowledge and experiences carried across boundaries by members of different cultures (Kotkin, 1992). Much attention has been paid to the effects of exiles on cultures of destination, particularly the impact of

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