Introduction – South Asian Diasporas and (imaginary) homelands: why representations still matter

This special issue of South Asian Diaspora explores how films, literature, photography and social media construct and re-present narratives of homelands and diasporas, as well as investigating the ways which these same narratives are disseminated, appropriated and/or challenged in relation to recent political developments in South Asia and in the diaspora. By focusing on a spectrum of different media of communications, the articles collected in this special issue pose the work of representation at the centre of diasporic politics as they investigate the ways in which representations inform the ways in which diasporic subjects (writers, filmmakers, social media users, etc.) imagine themselves as well as their homelands.