Connect. Amplify. Flourish.
What does this really mean? Is it just another slogan for a non-profit, understood only by insiders? We’ll make sure it’s not. At Kaitzak, we believe that building healthy communities begins with recognizing our strengths—and then adding to them.
Whether it’s in the media or in our collective narratives that focus on pain and deficits, there seems to be an influx of dark news within our communities. Kaitzak serves as a reminder that diaspora communities possess inherent power and it’s up to each of us to tell our stories in the way we choose.
The mere existence of diasporic groups points to their resilience. “Diaspora” means to scatter about, to disperse (Ages, 1973). Many diasporic groups have faced exile, genocide, famine, and other traumatic events before and during their formation. Despite the adversities and inevitable trauma that multiple generations have endured, these communities have recreated their homes, cultures, and identities in new and unfamiliar places. While focusing on the negative can be a form of self-protection, it can also hold us back from creating the future we want.
Kaitzak’s philosophy is inspired by the principles of positive psychology, a field pioneered by Dr. Martin Seligman, which studies individual and collective human well-being through empirical methods, focusing on strengths and what contributes to flourishing. As a positive psychology practitioner, my research at the University of Pennsylvania has centered on how narratives in diasporic groups promote individual and collective agency. Using this framework and my own research, I’ll guide you through Kaitzak’s approach to understanding and building healthy diaspora communities.
“When we begin telling stories of strength and resilience, we start living according to these values.”
What’s working in our communities? This is one of the key questions for understanding how to build on what makes us resilient and unique. Often, we’re so focused on what’s not there that we forget to look at the available resources and skills right in front of us. Whether it’s intergenerational relationships, language, or a perseverant attitude, there is so much that has helped communities get to where they are today. Instead of diagnosing a community’s weaknesses, a strengths-based approach can pool the resources, goals, and skills within the group to create a flourishing whole. This approach also gives power back to the communities, helping them understand and decide what’s important and meaningful for the benefit of the larger collective.
Well-being is not one-dimensional. According to Seligman’s PERMA framework of well-being (2011), humans need positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment to flourish. Dr. Khachig Tölölyan, founder and editor of the journal Diaspora and professor at Wesleyan University, posits that Diasporic groups have multidimensional, converging identities (Tölölyan, 2018). Kaitzak is committed to understanding what helps each group reach its full potential while finding common ground with others. Thriving communities require more than just economic or cultural success—they need a balance across multiple domains. Kaitzak embraces a holistic approach, addressing cultural preservation, economic and educational empowerment, and social cohesion as some of the key pillars of a healthy diaspora.
The power of diaspora groups is rooted in the strong social bonds between community members. People with strong ties have higher well-being (Cohen & Wills, 1985), and social support after loss and adversity helps recover emotional and physical health (Cacchiatore et al., 2021). Building healthy connections—both within and between communities—strengthens our global network. Kaitzak prioritizes fostering relationships across borders, promoting collaboration and knowledge sharing that benefits all generations and identities.
Resilience is the ability to bounce back and lead fulfilling lives (Reivich & Shatté, 2002). We believe that Diasporic groups embody resilience through their continued perseverance and push towards a better future. Kaitzak aims to highlight those narratives that remind us of the resilience of our ancestors, history, and culture. According to narrative psychologists like Dan McAdams, the stories we tell about ourselves shape who we are and how we see the world (McAdams et al., 2011). When we begin telling stories of strength and resilience, we start living according to these values.
Our goal: remember the past while building a healthier future. How can we choose to tell stories that promote our group’s well-being and still honor the past? Kaitzak aims to bring forward shared collective narratives and take accountability for how we continue telling these narratives. By doing so, we can create a more agentic and healthy future generation. We all have a story to tell, and our platform serves as a space to share yours. By sharing our individual stories, we can also begin listening to and improving the narratives we tell as a collective.
Kaitzak is not just a platform—it’s a movement to reshape how we see ourselves and our communities. “Connect. Amplify. Flourish” isn’t a mere slogan, but a call to action: to connect deeply with our roots and each other, to amplify the stories of strength and resilience within our communities, and to flourish collectively by building on what makes us unique. By focusing on our strengths and embracing a holistic approach to well-being, we aim to foster connections that transcend borders and generations. Whether it’s through our language and cultural identity or the ties between different community members and organizations, our shared narratives honor the resilience of our past while paving the way for a brighter, more interconnected future. Kaitzak is here to remind us that our stories matter—and together, we have the power to shape a thriving, flourishing diaspora.
References
Ages, A. (1973). The diaspora: Origin and meaning. In The Diaspora Dimension. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.
Cacciatore, J., Thieleman, K., Fretts, R., & Jackson, L. B. (2021). What is good grief support? Exploring the actors and actions in social support after traumatic grief. PloS One, 16(5), e0252324.
Cohen, S., & Wills, T.A. (1985). Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98(2), 310–357. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.98.2.310
McAdams, D. P., Reynolds, J., Lewis, M., Patten, A. H., & Bowman, P. J. (2001). When badthings turn good and good things turn bad: sequences of redemption and contamination in life narrative and their relation to psychosocial adaptation in midlife adults and in students. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27(4), 474–485. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167201274008
Reivich, K. & Shatte, A. (2002). The resilience factor: 7 Essential skills for overcoming
life’s inevitable obstacles. New York, NY: Broadway Books.
Seligman, M. (2011). Flourish. New York, NY: Free Press.
Tölölyan, K. (2018). Diaspora studies: Past, present and promise. In Routledge handbook of diaspora studies (pp. 22-30). Routledge.
