Aligned and shifting identities in distant diasporas: a multigenerational examination

The diaspora literature regularly examines identity shifts and remakings through experiences of displacement. Multigenerational diasporas, however, complicate these shifts due to differing contexts of education, history and resettlement experience between younger and older generations. How does diaspora identity continue across generations, and where does it shift in distant diasporas? This article examines the ways that the identities of former Bhutanese refugees have been sustained and shifted in the context of mass resettlement. It compares radio interviews with younger and older generation diaspora members broadcast on Radio Pahichan, a Nepali-language radio show produced in South Australia. We examine diaspora members who have participated in these public expressions of identity through the overlapping thematic lenses of stories, language, culture, success, and memory. Through an analysis of this material, we show how some aspects of identity serve as a bridge between generations, while others show shifts and breaks in previously similar identities.