“It took 115 years to make this trip, and 6,000 miles, and three generations.”
President John F. Kennedy, speaking on the quay at New Ross, Ireland, June 27, 1963
Kennedy stood in the town his great-grandfather had left for Boston more than a century earlier. That ancestor left with “a strong religious faith and a strong desire for liberty,” and Kennedy told the crowd that “all of his great grandchildren have valued that inheritance.” Three generations and an ocean later, the tie to Ireland was still there.
That is what a diaspora looks like. Some people picture only recent immigrants when they hear the word. Many second- and third-generation professionals wonder whether it describes them at all. Here is the definition we use at The Diaspora Academy.
The Definition We Use
The Diaspora Academy uses the definition the International Organization for Migration (IOM) developed in 2013. IOM defines diasporas as:
“Emigrants and their descendants, who live outside the country of their birth or ancestry, either on a temporary or permanent basis, yet still maintain affective and material ties to their countries of origin.”
Affective and material ties sit at the heart of that definition, and descendants belong to it. A diaspora includes the children, grandchildren, and later generations of the people who first migrated, connected through family, culture, language, economics, or social connection.
Commitment and Consciousness
We understand who belongs to a diaspora through commitment and consciousness. Commitment means maintaining ties to an ancestral homeland. Consciousness means being aware of that connection, or actively seeking to grow it. Diaspora membership rests on both, regardless of legal status, country of birth, or language fluency. As I shared in my episode on defining diaspora, belonging to a diaspora is something you claim.
Diasporas Span Generations
According to the United Nations International Migrant Stock 2024, an estimated 304 million people lived outside their country of birth in mid-2024. Because diasporas include descendants, the communities connected to them are larger still, and every generation brings its own strengths.
Download the Free Guide
Our free guide, What Is the Diaspora?, goes deeper. It covers the full definition, questions to explore your own commitment and consciousness, the strengths each generation brings, and what the definition means for diaspora leaders and the institutions that partner with them.
Sources
International Organization for Migration, 2013 definition of diaspora. Semhar Araia, That Second-Gen Life, episode on defining diaspora (February 27, 2025). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, International Migrant Stock 2024. John F. Kennedy, Remarks on the Quay at New Ross, Ireland (June 27, 1963), The American Presidency Project.
