As a young person in Ethiopia, Kassahun Kebede and his family were displaced from their homes more than once, in something the Ethiopian government called resettlement. Those experiences later propelled him into his now nearly two-decade career researching population relocation, international migration and the new African diaspora — the voluntary movement of Africans to the U.S. and other countries in the latter half of the 20th century.
“Growing up, I just became a displaced person in my own community,” he says. “Mobility has always fascinated me.”
Recently, his research has delved into the identity development of second-generation Ethiopian Americans and how the Ethiopian diaspora (dispersed from their homeland) advocates for democracy across international borders.
As someone who now identifies as Ethiopian American and has children who would be considered second-generation Ethiopian Americans, Kebede says his own biculturality is what really drove him to research the formation of transnational identity.
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