Coping with Migration: Celebrations of Community, Identity and Belongingness By Andean Diaspora

What transnational experiences may signify for a migrant culture, which travels between places and spaces are discussed through case studies in this paper. By describing some Andean festivities and their contents I try to understand processes of cultural production as way of creating ‘an own culture’ in some European towns and cities. I study festivities where old and new meanings of identity based on a sense of community can be observed. Ways of constructing and representing a community as well as social unity with the means of Andean popular culture, dance and music, are studied.

Is it a question of defining new places and spaces for diasporic identities, or new identities through online and offline communities? Can these spaces be seen as new centres of meaning for diasporic groups or is it a question of reinventing and redefining traditions? How do issues of gender, nationality and age impact on the form and content of the festivities?

Celebrations where old and new meanings of identity and relationships based on enjoyment and relaxation can be observed, are focused. Issues such as how relationships between what is considered as the local, regional and national music culture are articulated, will be studied with ethnographic methods.