The variety of experiences which now exist and are being constantly formed led Cohen to suggest a fivefold typology of diasporas: victim, labour, trade, imperial and cultural (Cohen, 2001). Cohen also suggests that we make the effort to move away from using the Jewish example as the normative description of a diaspora. While, however, his work presents a more nuanced and open approach to our understanding of these kinds of experience, it is difficult to downplay the importance of the Jewish and African experiences in informing our clearest understandings of diaspora consciousness, particularly as related to significant social and political action, both historically and contemporarily.