Introduction

This chapter introduces Understanding Diaspora Development: Lessons from Australia and the Pacific and some of the key themes running through this edited collection. Given the country’s significant cultural and linguistic diversity, Australia has been selected as a case study through which to explore diaspora formation and development from a range of perspectives. Chapters demonstrate and grapple with the usefulness of ‘diaspora’ as a concept to explore the experiences of migrant and refugee communities in Australia. They showcase a wide range of diaspora experiences and bring a grounded, temporal and territorialised understanding to notions of diasporic engagement, and foster further understanding on the peace-building, conflict, economic, humanitarian and political engagements of diaspora communities in Australia. We argue that the lessons gleaned from these Australian case studies provide useful examples as well as raise questions for policy and practice that are relevant to other contexts and diaspora communities in similarly multicultural regions. The insights and findings from the breadth of research showcased shed light on broader debates about diasporas, migration and development, and transnationalism.