Ghanaian Seventh Day Adventists on and offline: problematising the virtual communities discourse

Abstract

According to the dominant discourse of ‘virtual community’ espoused by, what we term ‘cyberoptimistic’ theorists such as Rheingold (e.g. 1993b), the affordances of ICTs such as the Internet and the attendant communicative forms they enable should present diasporic communities with significant opportunities. Given the apparent capability of these new communication services such as the World Wide Web, e-mail and Usenet to enable communication and interaction that can overcome the perceived barriers of space and time, the perception is that these communication forms can reorientate our thinking about community and diaspora. This chapter interrogates the virtual community discourse, in particular focusing on three of its more significant claims. First, that ICTs are inherently beneficial, second, that they are ubiquitous and accessible and, third that they pave the way for the realisation of a utopian community where race, gender and other forms of identity are potentially meaningless. The chapter examines the discourse via an analysis of the activities of a contemporary African diasporic community, the Ghanaian Seventh Day Adventists (GSDA) and their on-and offline communication. The chapter calls into question the claims of the ‘cyberoptimistic’ theories and suggests alternatives in relation to ICTs and their use by diasporic communities.