What is meant by the terms expatriates and diaspora? In my best knowledge expatriates can be interpreted as people who are temporarily or permanently living in a country other than where they were born. As for diaspora an interesting way to define it, is by noting what sociologist William Safran called it, in which he defined diaspora "As a concept that can be applied to expatriate minority communities whose members share several of the following characteristics". While a few were interesting and will be analyzed later on, let's reflect on his first example of diaspora characteristics. Safran stated that minority communities "Believe that they are not, and perhaps cannot, be fully accepted by their host society and therefore feel partly alienated and insulated from it". During the books earliest pages Ashima is upset, homesick, and emotionally withdrawn from her birth place India. Instead of communicating with society, she would rather ostracize herself from it, staying home and reading old Bengali poems, stories and news articles. When this eventually grew troublesome, Ashima angrily yells at her husband Ashoke "I can't do this/" Hurry up and finish your degree"/" I'm saying I don't want to raise Gogol alone in this country, it's not right I want to go back" (pg32-33). Taking a look at Ashima's point of view she felt like hostage stolen from her home and taken to an alien stronghold, all she wants to do is escape it all together.
Another characteristic of expatriate minorities stated by William Safran is that "They regard, their ancestral homeland as their true, ideal home and the place to which they or their descendants would (or should) eventually return when conditions are appropriate". Calcutta India is where Ashima is from, when she has two children, a boy named Gogol, and a younger daughter names Sonia, she makes several attempts to teach them the ways of the Bengali culture, such as the foods they eat, and how a Bengali acts.
