Book Chapter

‘Know your diaspora!’: knowledge production and governing capacity in the context of Latvian diaspora politics

Published 1 September 2015 / By Dace Dzenovska

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Who is moving and who is staying? Why are they moving or staying? Are they likely to move or to stay in the future? These questions are asked by researchers and governments alike. In fact, it is often said that one of the defining features of the modern nation-state is the government of mobility. In conditions of freedom, when individuals are not forced to move or to stay, government of mobility entails regulating movement, influencing the behaviour of potentially mobile subjects, as well as knowing what the objects of government are up to. Inability to regulate movement, to influence behaviour, or to know the population to be governed conjures up the problem of what could be called ‘governing capacity’ and threatens to undermine state authority.

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Citation

Dzenovska, D. (2015) ‘Know your diaspora!’: knowledge production and governing capacity in the context of Latvian diaspora politics, in Diasporas Reimagined: Spaces, Practices and Belonging, edited by Sigona, N., Gamlen, A., Liberatore, G., and Neveu Kringelbach, H. (eds.), Oxford Diasporas Programme, Oxford