By Esteban Cabrera
New York: Within the framework of the publication of the book of my authorship, “The broken face of the diaspora,” a journalistic investigation that discovered embezzlement of funds for the Dominican elections abroad for about US$5 million and electoral fraud in the position of overseas deputy against Yomare Polanco in the Dominican elections in constituency #1 in the US.
Especially in New York, a group of Dominican intellectuals, whom I highly respect, strongly oppose using the word “DIASPORA” to identify the Dominican community living abroad. The most surprising thing is that they disqualify the term and those of us who use it based on reasoning.
The name of my book was the subject of much criticism from this sector, which still seems trapped in the sixth century BC. C. when the term “DIASPORA” was used for the first time to identify the dispersion of the Jews throughout the world after the destruction of the kingdom of Israel. That’s where the confusion comes from.
However, in postmodernity and as a result of the increase in migratory movements throughout the world, the word “DIASPORA” began to be used to identify any group of communities of the same origin or of the same condition established in other countries without all is related to the departure of the Jewish people. Nothing to see.
Since you don’t have to study to be stupid, in my ignorance, I looked in the “mataborro” (dictionary), and this is what I found:
In a simple search in the most widely accepted dictionaries today, I found the definition of the word “DIASPORA”:
Oxford and Google Languages
It is the Google Spanish dictionary provided by Oxford Languages. Oxford Languages is the world’s leading publisher of lexicographical publications, with over 150 years of experience creating and distributing highly regarded dictionaries worldwide in over 50 languages.
This dictionary defines the word “DIASPORA” as follows:
“Group of communities of the same origin or the same condition established in different countries.”
“Dispersion of a people or human community throughout various parts of the world; especially that of the Jews after the destruction of the kingdom of Israel (6th century BC)”.
I mean, yes, it was used for the Jewish people, but that is not to say that it is an exclusive term for the exodus of that people; rather, the word began to be used to identify different groups that migrate from their countries around the world, without necessarily alluding to Jews, like the Dominican “DIASPORA,” for example.
For its part, the Free Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, defines the word “DIASPORA” as:
“Diaspora (from ancient Greek: διασπορά [diaspora] ‘dispersal’) implies the dispersal of ethnic or religious groups that have left their place of origin and are scattered throughout the world. If, for the most part, the term has been used to refer to the Jewish exile outside the Land of Israel and the subsequent dispersal of the Jewish people throughout the world, its meaning has been expanded to designate all the people dispersed outside their country. Originally.
With this small contribution, I hope that my intellectual friends in New York will lower their guard and continue contributing to the Dominican “DIASPORA,” orphaned, disrespected, used, or abused by all the governments of the DR.
