Migrant collectives as new twenty-first century transnational movements

In the past two decades the tendency to view migrant communities as victimized, without agency, or oppressed has been challenged by the new rhetoric of "Diaspora". The recent formation of Diaspora movements globally suggests that these groups of migrants are not just financial remitters but are organized, visible collectives that influence the geo-political status quo in many ways. ... Utilizing qualitative methodology in conjunction with the analytical lenses of social movement theory and the rhetoric of movements, the study addresses the gaps in the literature on Diasporas by exploring the factors that contributed to the formation of the Jamaican Diaspora during the years 1962 to 2011. ... Moving even beyond our conceptualization of movements, this study also connects Diasporas to the notion of publics. Migrant communities, like the Jamaican Diaspora, negotiate global and local terrains, operate as self-organized publics and form new public spaces in which a common identity goal and imagination connects and motivates strangers.