Diasporic grief and grievance on-line: how South African and Serbian diasporas use the web

Abstract

This paper explores the political and psychological angles of white South African and Serbian diasporas' discourses on-line. On the basis of textual analysis of diasporic web-sites we argue that participants speak of ongoing grievance over the loss of their countries and assert that they have been the victims of "unjust" history and globalisation. Each online discourse articulates claims of belonging not on the grounds of, for example, citizenship or multiculturalism, but rather on the basis of "a victim-hood", "civilisation", and "grief".Key Words: anger, belonging, diaspora , identity, Serbia, South Africa, web-sites, Diasporic grief and grievance on-line: how South African and Serbian diasporas use the WebAt the beginning of the 21 st century, mostly because of the changed nature of global conflicts, the rise of migrants and the use of new technologies, the political nature of migrants' belonging and attachment to the homelands has been fundamentally transformed. As Appadurai (2000) argues, on one hand, we witness the increased role of (local) media culture: everyday life rituals, representations, relationships, communication and information are all increasingly mediated, especially with the employment of the Internet. On the other hand, there is an increasing globalisation of communication, which has consequences for imagining and remembering "homelands" for diasporic communities. To study diasporas and media, then, is to explore a space that allows for the interrogation of belonging, emotions and identity in a way that seldom occurs in non-diasporic communities. The new circuits of on-line spaces provide the context in which migrants maintain or construct anew transnational interconnections that differ in their intensity and significance from the 'home' ties maintained by past migrations.There is some excellent work on memories, diasporas, media, articulation, modernity, consumption and, moreover, on the relationship of memories and history. The close relationship between the ways in which diasporic imaginations, narratives, identities and articulations are used on the web is also well theorised (see, in particular, Aksoy, 2007;Appadurai, 2000;Jones, 1995;Sreberny, 2002;Chopra, 2006;Georgiou, 2001;Naficy, 1999; Skrbis, 1999;Gillespie, 1995). The literature identifies how diasporas use the Internet, and the most common arguments about the potential of Internet are, firstly, how the Internet presents a new vehicle for internal and external communication, for self-determination, and for resistance to outside cultural