What does it mean to experience diaspora not just as identity, but as feeling? This talk by Yuyue Sun explores the idea of diasporic affect—shifting the focus from fixed notions of belonging and identity to the emotional and relational experiences that shape diasporic lives.
Rather than seeing diaspora as something stable or clearly defined, it looks at how feelings, desires, and intensities continuously form and transform ways of being, relating, and living in between places.
Drawing on life history interviews and creative research with Chinese diasporic individuals in Bristol and Berlin, the talk brings together a series of personal stories that reveal the complexity of diasporic experience: from ambivalent connections to cultural identity, to quieter forms of political engagement, to the desire for autonomy without fully belonging. Together, these perspectives open up a more nuanced understanding of diaspora as something multiple, uneven, and constantly in motion.
Yuyue Sun is a PhD candidate in Human Geography at the University of Bristol. She has begun her fellowship at the CRC Affective Societies in summer semester 2026. During her stay in Berlin, she is working on the affective dimensions of the Chinese diaspora, combining academic research with community-based work, particularly in collaboration with queer Chinese initiatives.