Toward a definition of diaspora

With the emergence of diaspora studies as a field, scholars from different disciplines have offered diverse definitions of the concept of diaspora. Thus far, scholarly debates about what constitutes a diaspora continue to thrive. In this article, I approach this conceptual divide inductively, by analysing how scholars identify and discuss the defining features of diaspora. I have constructed a database that consists of highly cited articles in the social sciences and the humanities that define diaspora. Using ATLAS.ti, a qualitative data analysis software, I coded and aggregated the most prevalent attributes of diaspora in those definitions. The features that appear in at least half of the definitions are dispersal or immigration, location outside a homeland, community, orientation to a homeland, transnationalism, and group identity. These attributes provided me with the foundation to offer a clear, comprehensive, and workable definition of diaspora.