离散作为一种跨学科的理论，自20世纪90年代以来逐渐兴起，经历了从文化研究视角下的族性研究，发展到后殖民并转向全球化研究语境下的社会现象研究，再到文学研究范畴的话语演进过程。同时，离散理论随着离散现象的不断演进、深化，处于开放状态。文化身份作为离散理论的核心支点被重新论述，颠覆了传统意义上的固定、单一归属，而强调不断被主体建构、生成，以及多元“混成”的状态。随着全球化现象的发展，影响离散的动因正由殖民、后殖民向全球化倾斜，其理论指向也正由边缘群体在后殖民社会中的“反抗性”，向离散群体弥合个人与社会之间、地方与全球之间鸿沟的“融合力”滑动。21世纪以来，离散作为一个文学研究的分析范畴应用于海外华人文学研究，在很大程度上与阐释华人的移民历史和解读华人文学相契合，指认了华人文学的一些核心特征。但离散这一文学研究话语本身存在着不可忽视的张力、矛盾和缺陷，离散文学研究仍有可以开拓与补足之处。

As an interdisciplinary theory that emerged in the 1990s, the discourse of diaspora theory has engaged with varying fields: ethnicity studies, postcolonial studies, globalization, and literary studies. With the continuous evolution and deepening of the diaspora phenomenon, this theory has remained open. Cultural identity, as the core of diaspora theory, is emphasized as being constantly constructed and produced by the subject, and being in a state of hybridity, while the traditional fixed and single identity is overthrown. With the fading of (post)colonial history, globalization has risen to the forefront of diaspora theory, replacing (post)colonization; meanwhile, the core of diaspora theory shifts from the resistance of marginal groups within a postcolonial society to a fusing power that bridges the gap between individuals and society, the local and the global. From the new millennium onwards, diaspora has been used as an analytical term in the research on overseas Chinese literature, corresponding largely with the interpretation of Chinese migration history and indicating some core characteristics of overseas Chinese literature. However, diaspora as a literary discourse features noticeable internal tension, contradictions and weakness, and thus there are still areas to be explored and supplemented in the study of diasporic literature.