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cover art for Episode 3 - Poutine in Portugal

Dispersion

Episode 3 - Poutine in Portugal

Season 1, Ep. 3

In this episode, João and Regine talk about their experiences of returning back to their homelands of Portugal and Rwanda after living as Diasporan Canadians. This episode explores the subjects of belonging, staying connected, hybrid identities, race, food and culture, and where one feels most at “home”. 


To learn more about the themes presented in this episode, refer to these papers from

Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies


  • Sardinha, J. (2014). “Even if the only thing for me to do here was to milk cows”: Portuguese emigrant descendant returnees from Canada narrate pre-return desires and motivations. Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, 17(3), 316-339. https://doi.org/10.3138/diaspora.17.3.316
  • King, R., Christou, A., Goodson, I., Teerling, J. (2014). Tales of satisfaction and disillusionment: Second-generation “return” migration to Greece and Cyprus. Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, 17(3), 262-287. https://doi.org/10.3138/diaspora.17.3.262
  • Kasbarian, S. (2015). The myth and reality of “return”— Diaspora in the “homeland”. Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, 18(3), 358-381. https://doi.org/10.3138/diaspora.18.3.358
  • Ishkanian, A. (2004). Review essay: Home-comings and goings. Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, 13(1), 111-121. https://doi.org/10.3138/diaspora.13.1.111


Guest Bios


After completing his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Geography at the University of Northern British Columbia in 1997, João Sardinha moved to Lisbon, Portugal to do his Masters in Geography and Regional Studies at Nova University of Lisbon which he then followed up with a PhD Degree at the University of Sussex in the UK. For the last 14 years he's worked as a social science researcher at three academic research institutions in Portugal, most recently for the International Organization for Migration, and he also works as a free-lance translator. His primary area of research during this the last almost decade and a half has focused on the ancestral homeland return of the offspring of Portuguese emigrants back to Portugal. 


Dr. Régine Uwibereyeho King is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary. King has a PhD in Social Work and a Masters in Counselling Psychology and Community Development (MEd.) from University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Education from the National University of Rwanda. Her research interests include social processes of healing, forgiveness and reconciliation, refugee issues, cross-cultural mental health, Indigenous knowledge, and racial justice. Her research agenda is guided by anti-colonial, antiracist perspectives, and Black feminism. King is a community-based researcher who utilizes critical ethnography and critical storytelling/narrative methods in her research projects. Dr. King has published her work in the areas of truth and reconciliation, intergroup dialogues, healing of collective trauma, anti-Black racism, refugee mental health, transnational social work, and critical pedagogies. King’s community engagement includes genocide prevention, various academic committees, advocacy, and support to marginalized communities.  

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