century this "return" took on a practical form, resulting in the founding of Sierra Leone and Liberia. In the twentieth century, there have been any number of individuals who have sought to find their African souls or roots by undertaking sojourns in different parts of the continent. The ease of communication in a globalized world means that the sensibilities associated with belonging to an African diaspora continue to be strengthened by new points of meeting (in Europe and North America), by new demands for reparations for the cruelties of Atlantic slavery, and, very powerfully, by the symbolic and iconic achievements of the presidency of Barack Obama, as well as the dynamic contributions to the metropoles of the West made by artists, musicians, writers and intellectuals who have recently come out of Africa. Crucially, the African diaspora suggests that while there may be numerous transnational communities - both historical and contemporary - not all develop into diasporas, and while all diasporas are transnational communities, not all transnational communities are diasporas.