Social Sciences Essay: Reflection on Readings

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Reflection on Readings
Historical accounts of the world and humanity as a whole is characteristic of human travel or movement from location to the other towards the fulfillment of different needs. The movement of people from one place to the other is an ancient phenomenon witnessed across the different civilizations of human beings as influenced by the demands of their unique interests or needs. The diverse human needs and demands of the lives of individuals and groups of people necessitating their movement from one geographical location to another spread across the social, political, and economic dimensions in society. Individuals may leave their homeland for expatriate duties in other countries while others are forcefully evicted from their home countries due to their dissenting views and opinions from governing or ruling regimes in their host countries. Such movements from one place, region, or country to another due to the outlined factors give birth to the concept of Diasporas and its intersection with the concept of transnationalism, often used in studying the changes and transitions occurring across the same platforms. The concept of Diasporas and its intersection with transnationalism create effective platforms for studying and understanding the movement of individuals and groups of people as well as the transfer of processes or activities from one geographical location to the other. Provided herein is a reflection on two readings about the concepts of Diaspora and Transnationalism for the development of an informed understanding of the underlying features defining the same while also highlighting their application in different contexts.
One of the readings, Thomas Faist’s Diaspora and transnationalism: What kind of dance partners?, makes for an interesting read on the concepts of diaspora and transnationalism across different contexts across the social, political, and economic dimensions of the global society. The author recognizes the common and often misleading interchangeable use of diaspora and transnationalism in denoting cross-border interactions and integrations of individuals and groups of people (Faist, pg. 9). According to Thomas Faist, the increasing and enhanced cross-border interactions and integrations among individuals and groups of people across the network of countries arising from their migration or movement from one geographical location to the other have led to a shift in the conception of state borders (Faist, pg. 9). In essence, the concepts of diaspora and transnationalism function to extend the jurisdiction of state borders, as evidenced by the interactions and integration of immigrants within their host countries and with their home countries. However, a distinction exists between the two concepts in their manifestation across the social, economic, and political dimensions. Kim D. Butler&rsquo...