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Manjikian: Passages from the Afro-Caribbean Diaspora

“What is an ocean between us, we know how to build bridges.”
—Claudia Jones

My first encounter with Claudia Jones was a few years ago. I recently stumbled upon the article that first introduced me to her and still find her story to be fascinating and inspiring. As someone who is intrigued by exile and the migratory paths of people, I am drawn to this woman’s story, not only because her roots and routes (to use Paul Gilroy’s play of words) overlap so interestingly, but also because her trajectory connects exile, deportation, and diaspora in a positive way, which rarely is the case. And what is most appealing is that this woman shifted her struggle and suffering, brought on by exile, into a proactive fight for justice and rights.

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Lalai Manjikian

Dr. Lalai Manjikian is a humanities professor at Vanier College in Montreal. Her teaching and research interests are in the areas of immigration and refugee studies, media representations of migration, migrant narratives and diaspora studies. She is the author of Collective Memory and Home in the Diaspora: The Armenian Community in Montreal (2008). Lalai’s articles have been published in a number of newspapers and journals including The Armenian Weekly, Horizon Weekly, 100 Lives (The Aurora Prize), the Montreal Gazette, and Refuge. A former Birthright Armenia participant (2005), over the years, Lalai has been active in volunteering both within the Armenian community in Montreal and the local community at large, namely engaged in immigrant and refugee integration. She previously served as a qualitative researcher on the Armenian Diaspora Survey in Montreal. Lalai also serves as a board member for the Foundation for Genocide Education. She holds a PhD in Communication Studies from McGill University (2013).

One Comment

  1. You are absolutely correct Lalai in stating that no matter where we are, no matter how many miles and oceans separate us, we as Armenians are extremly hard working and intelligent community.. this means those bridges will never be hard for us to build… All it takes is common goal, common destination, common purpose.. and that is to get justice for what was done to our people and rebuild our birthplace…  as long as we support each other, those bridges will be as strong as a rock and no living breathing organism can destroy it… i see these bridges as our love and dedication to our nation, our Armenian culture, soul and heart…

    Gayane

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