Triggered to Thinking

Diaspora studies in biblical studies is a fascinating subject. It connects to how readers of the Bible, or any sacred text, interpret the text based on their own backgrounds and experiences. Jeffrey Kah-Jin Kuan is a biblical scholar who views the Book of Esther from the perspective of a Chinese American. His essay, Diasporic Readings of a Diasporic Text: Identity Politics and Race Relations in the Book of Esther, which appears in Interpreting Beyond the Borders, reflects this perspective.

The works of William Safran and James Clifford are cited in the essay, and they discuss communities related to diaspora. The concept of diaspora is related to communities that have “been dispersed from their original center, preserve a myth about their original homeland, believe they cannot be accepted by their host country, and consider their ancestral home as their ideal home and place of eventual return” (Segovia, 2000, p. 161). Segovia also makes a distinction between immigrant communities and diasporic communities. While immigrants may eventually assimilate, diasporic communities may not, primarily because of experiences of discrimination and expulsion, along with their allegiance and connection to a homeland (Segovia, 2000).Clifford notes that diasporas construct “forms of community consciousness and solidarity that maintain identifications outside the national time/space in order to live inside with a difference” (Segovia, 2000, p. 162). 

On a personal note, I have seen how diasporic communities relate to this concept, particularly within the Armenian community in the United States. Many Armenians form their own communities within the United States that celebrate Armenian culture through churches, schools, and remembrance of the Armenian genocide. Yet they also live within the United States and create forms of community consciousness outside of American nationality, allowing them to “live inside with a difference.” For some, myths surrounding the homeland of Armenia can also lead to disappointment when diaspora Armenians visit Armenia itself. Leila Wilmers and Dmitry Chernobrov note: 

“Through more regular contact with the state, disappointment in elements of politics and culture that clash with personal imaginings of the homeland can lead to ambivalence in identifying with Armenia. Ultimately, the state plays a key orienting role for many young diasporic Armenians, but clashes between recalled encounters and myths concerning the state can render it a place of partial belonging, unable to fulfil the ideals of the diasporic imagination” (Wilmers & Chernobrov, 2019). 

Many Chinese Americans and other Asian Americans experience a state of liminality, which is a state of “in-betweenness.” For many of these Americans, they may never fully become Malaysian, Burmese, or Indonesian, yet they are also never fully accepted by their host country (Segovia, 2000). Kuan argues that this liminality centers on how immigrants may never be fully embraced by American society, thus creating a condition of liminality. He also notes how Michael Fox lists several classifications of the Book of Esther, including the diaspora story. Kuan argues for understanding the text as a “diaspora novella” (Segovia, 2000, p. 168). 

Kuan analyzes three essential texts from the Book of Esther to support this argument. The first is Esther 2:5–10. In this part of the story, King Ahasuerus is preparing a celebration for all the people of the citadel of Susa. Mordecai’s identity in the story is highly hybridized. He is described as a “Jew in the citadel of Susa” who was “the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjaminite.” He is identified as both a Jew and a Benjaminite, identifiers that are tribal, cultural, and political (Segovia, 2000, p. 169). Mordecai, as a hybridized person, must navigate between different worlds because he exists between Jewish and Persian cultural worlds (Segovia, 2000). The construction of this kind of identity is related to the experience of displacement.

Esther’s name further complicates the issue of identity construction. She possesses both a Hebrew and a non-Hebrew name (Segovia, 2000). She is also called Hadassah in the text. Jon Levenson notes that Hadassah is related to several Hebrew names. However, regarding Esther, “It may derive from a Persian word cognate with the word star or from the Babylonian goddess Ishtar” (Levenson, 1997, p. 58). While she is participating in the beauty contest to find a new queen, Esther is instructed by Mordecai not to reveal her people or kindred (Esther 2:10). The diasporic Jewish community, in a sense, learns to adapt to the world of its host country (Segovia, 2000). 

Kuan also examines Esther chapter 3 through the lens of liminality. Haman, the king’s courtier, tells King Ahasuerus about a group of people within the empire who do not follow the king’s laws and instead follow their own customs (Esther 3:8). The diasporic Jews within the Persian Empire constructed their own identity so they could live in two worlds at once. Thus, the diasporic Jewish community remains an “other” (Segovia, 2000, p. 171). Finally, Kuan discusses the end of the book in Esther chapter 9, where the Jews destroy their enemies. For Kuan, this is understood as a strategy of survival. He notes that “it is only natural that such a story about eliminating the oppressors and alienators would be utilized to create community identity” (Segovia, 2000, p. 172). 

Works Cited

Levenson, J. D. (1997). Esther: A Commentary. Westminster John Knox Press.

Segovia, F. F. (2000). Interpreting beyond borders. A&C Black.

Wilmers, L., & Chernobrov, D. (2019). Growing up with a long-awaited nation-state: Personal struggles with the homeland among young diasporic Armenians. Ethnicities, 20(3), 520–543. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468796819866973