Book Review 4: Diaspora for the Development in Africa by Sonia

Plaza and Dilip Ratha

Editors Sonia and Dilip set out on a journey in efforts to shine light on

people of the Diaspora from continent of Africa and how so much advancement
throughout the world is thriving because of this dispersion. The book goes into

detail on how many people define the diaspora, to the terms of the World Bank and

how this organization plays a significant role. Also, to add to the broad topic the

experiences from both developed and developing countries to discuss issues and

eventually confront the government and how they connect with the diaspora. The

editors were able to account for all their information into the different chapters in

by collecting 10 papers chosen out of 32 presented at a conference. This

conference was in hopes to consolidate research and evidence on the issues of the

diaspora with a view to calculating policies in countries on both ends of the topic,

which was at the International Conference on Diaspora and Development, held on

July 13–14, 2009, in Washington, DC. Therefore, in the book the editors goes into

detail how some African countries are taking a further look into African living

abroad in hopes that they would return and use the skills and talents they have

learned to further make their homeland more prosperous in terms of knowledge,

financial to lead to further development. With this hope many are in hopes that the

diaspora can promote trade and investment linkages

A further look in to how different groups defined the diaspora was taken into

account in which it can be defined as people who have migrated and their

descendants who maintain a connection to their homeland, which is a bit different

how the U.S. State Department defines the diasporas in which they state that “as
those migrant groups who share features of :Dispersion, whether voluntary or

involuntary, across socio-cultural boundaries and at least one political border, A

collective memory and myth about the homeland, A commitment to keeping the

homeland alive through symbolic and direct action, and the presence of the issue of

return, though not necessarily a commitment to do so”. (Department telegraph

86401, U.S. State Department). The book tends to present many different

definitions of the diaspora including the African Union.

The book itself provided insight on how the world is benefiting from the

African Diaspora. However, the book does not completely focus on Africa and its

countries but other areas in the world and how they play a role in the dispersion of

the African people. Therefor the editors discuss how African countries, including

those in North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, have over 30 million international

migrants. The estimation that the African diasporas saves the U.S. $53 billion

annually, in which this money could be used to improve the advancement of

African nations. However the information presented is almost inaccurate due to the

migration data on accounting for the first-generation migrants therefore their

children and grandchildren who may have ties to the origin country are not

accounted for.