‘ Am Yisrael Chai! (The Nation of Israel Lives!)’: Stark Reminders of Home in the Reproduction of Ethno-Diasporic Identity.

The transnationalism literature has redefined the concept of diaspora, claiming it to be de-rooted, de-centred and detached from the nation-state rhetoric of ‘one nation, one land’, primordial belonging and common origins. In this article I revisit the Jewish diaspora, once the classic case, as it navigates the reality—and tension—of its own transformation: from myth to reality of homeland return, although most have not returned. Specifically, I analyse March of the Living (MOL), a Holocaust education programme for international Jewish youth, that seeks to resolve this tension and shape the next generation of Jewish diasporans by strategically moving between old and new understandings of identity, homeland and diaspora. Discussed in this article are the various ways in which MOL emphasises to its participants the boundaries—and centre(s)—of Jewish diasporic identity. I conclude that transnational redefinitions of diaspora fail to adequately capture the mechanisms of all diasporic processes. The Jewish case calls for an in-between form of old and new diaspora that challenges but also recognises persistent claims of ethno-diasporic identity as essentialised and ultimately rooted in the homeland. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]