Diaspora networks, diaspora identities: the example of the Huguenots (completed)

funded by the German-Israeli-Foundation (2010-2013)

This research project investigates the formation and transformation of diaspora identities, taking the example of a "victim diaspora": French Protestants or Huguenots. How did French Protestant identities form in France, how did they develop in the "refuge" during the 17th and 18th centuries? The project aims at establishing networks between the "gate-keepers" of this diaspora (pastors, military leaders, printers, merchants); it will also analyse the ideas circulating within these networks and how these ideas were disseminated among other members of the Huguenot diaspora. Finally, the project will investigate to what extent a distinct and cohesive group identity could form and be maintained for generations of Huguenots in the different countries of refuge.

The principal investigators of this project are Prof Myriam Yardeni (Haifa University) and Prof Susanne Lachenicht (Universitaet Bayreuth).