YAHUDİ DİASPORASI DİASPORA ÇALIŞMALARINDA BİR İDEAL TİP OLARAK KALMALI MI? 1

The major intellectual forerunners of the diaspora literature had considered the Jewish diaspora as an "ideal type", and assigned the characteristics of the Jewish diaspora as criteria for labeling diasporas. However, in recent studies, flexible definitions of diaspora emerged in reaction to the scientific idealization of the Jewish diaspora example. This study firstly classified diaspora literature according to its reaction towards the idealization of the Jewish example and sought to give a meaningful answer to the question "Should Jewish diaspora stay as an ideal type in diaspora studies?". The study also proposed an approach that remarked the intra-heterogeneity of diaspora groups - which were often incorrectly and/or incompletely defined with an emphasis on their so-called monolithic ethnicity. In order to overcome the difficulties caused by the over stretching of the term "diaspora" in line with the proposed approach, the term "diasporic consciousness" is suggested as a criterion in labeling diasporas.