Indigenous-Diasporic Convergences in Settler-Colonial States: An Analysis of Assyrian Diasporans’ Indigeneity in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia

What does it mean to be part of an Indigenous, diasporic community living on Indigenous land that is not your own? The Assyrian people, Indigenous to parts of modern-day Iraq, Turkey, Syria, and Iran at present primarily exist in a diaspora that was initiated by persecution, following the 1915 Assyrian Genocide and 1933 Simele Massacre. Over the past century, Assyrians have left the Middle East in search of safety and better lives. This has resulted in the formation of substantial communities, ranging from those in the United States, Canada, Sweden, Germany, and Australia to smaller enclaves such as the existing community in Aotearoa New Zealand (hereafter New Zealand). The ensuing Assyrian diasporic identity is influenced by migration, generational differences, and individual negotiations that evolve over transnational contexts. In some settings, Assyrian diasporans are living not only among different cultures but on Indigenous land alongside the countries’ First Peoples. My wider research has comparatively examined transnationalism’s impact on the formation of young Assyrians’ diasporic identities across New Zealand, Australia, and Sweden. This paper explores a distinct facet of the broader study: Assyrians’ presence on the Indigenous lands of other peoples and the potential impact of these circumstances on youth diasporans. Applying qualitative and autoethnographic approaches, I analyse Assyrian youth perspectives on their diasporic identities and relationships with wider Indigenous cultures and communities, specifically in the New Zealand and Australian contexts. This probe draws on semi-structured, in-depth interviews conducted between 2024 and 2025. I present their reflections on Māori and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ implicit influence on the young diasporans’ sense of indigeneity. I suggest a two-layered approach to these inter-Indigenous relations. Principally, the youth interviewed often spoke with empathy toward the Indigenous peoples of both case countries and articulated a sense of solidarity in shared suffering. Yet they also demonstrated a delicate layer of disconnection, stemming from being Indigenous and unable to live on or fight for their land, and from the ongoing lack of materialised Indigenous rights in the countries where the Assyrian homeland is located. In this sense, they perceive other peoples’ indigeneity through a displaced Indigenous outlook. Beyond the Assyrian case, this inquiry touches on the broader question concerning Indigenous peoples’ displacement from their ancestral homelands—whether being in a diaspora is a permanent state or whether diasporic identities can be developed through affirmations of Indigenous identities and belongings. Analysing Assyrian youth living on the Indigenous lands of Māori and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples offers a unique glimpse into the negotiation of Indigenous identities across multiple colonial and diasporic contexts. In doing so, this paper contributes to emerging discussions of inter-Indigenous relations within settler-colonial states, revealing how indigeneity and diaspora intersect through the experiences of Assyrian youth.