In this episode, Cheng and Athena explore reasons behind migration, and their personal experiences of being “uprooted” from their homeland and “replanted” in Canada. This episode provides an introduction to identities, culture, and hybridity. 

To learn more about the themes presented in this episode, refer to these papers from Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies: 

• Howard, A. (2011). Diaspora no more? The role of Facebook in the development of a global Rotuman community. Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, 20(2), 177-203. https://doi.org/10.3138/diaspora.20.2.003  
• Liebelt, C., Shenar, G., & Werbner, P. (2010). Migration, diaspora, and religious pilgrimage in comparative perspective: Sacred geographies and ethical landscapes. Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, 19(1), 32-50. https://doi.org/10.3138/diaspora.19.1.03 
• Tölölyan, K. (1991). The nation-state and its others: In lieu of a preface, Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, 1(1), 3-7. https://doi.org/10.3138/diaspora.1.1.3
• Jules-Rosette, B. (2000). Identity discourses and diasporic aesthetics in Black Paris: Community formation and the translation of culture, Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, 9(1), 39-58. https://doi.org/10.3138/diaspora.9.1.39
• Fortier, A. (1998). The politics of "Italians abroad": Nation, diaspora, and new geographies of identity. Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, 7(2), 197-224. https://doi.org/10.3138/diaspora.7.2.197

Guest Bios

Athena Madan is an Assistant Professor at Royal Roads University, School of Humanitarian Studies. She is a naturalised Canadian citizen who is half Filipino and half Indian. She is additionally fluently bilingual in French and in English; the mother of Deven (born March 2019); the other half of Drew (a partner with Woodward & Company LLP); and the seventh of seven siblings (auspicious for a Filipino). Athena is one of the recipients of the 2021 Distinguished Academics Award from the Confederation of Faculty Associations of British Columbia (CUFA BC), and the recipient of the RRU Kelly Outstanding Teacher Award (2021). In 2018, Athena was selected as a winner of the Untold Stories Competition @ NPR, Johns Hopkins, & the Consortium for Universities in Global Health.

Cheng Xu is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of Toronto. He is a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholar and the 2021-2022 Cadieux-Leger Fellow at Global Affairs Canada. Cheng has served for nearly ten years in the Canadian Armed Forces as an airborne infantry officer.

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