Abstract
Since the eruption of the Greek crisis in 2010, thousands of highly educated and skilled Greeks have chosen or have been forced to migrate abroad in pursuit of better career prospects and living standards. This recent migratory wave has been termed ‘new’ Greek migration (Panagiotopoulou et al., 2019). Considering the transformative impact of social media on the lives and experiences of migrants as well as the pivotal role of social media in (dis)identification and identity construction processes, this paper aims at exploring the ways in which new Greek migrants construct their identities in their social media discourse. Based on a synergy between the constructionist approach to identity, discourse studies, and online ethnography, the paper presents and discusses empirical data (social media content and interviews) from five selected new Greek migrants settled in the UK and Germany, who write about and capture their migration experiences on their blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. As shown in the analysis, new Greek migrant identities are hybrid and multifaceted, constructed and negotiated through a gamut of discursive means, including stance-taking, intertextuality, entextualization, and coupling. Having the migrants’ own voice and perspective at the heart of the analysis brings to the forefront significant socio-cultural dimensions of new Greek migration, often downplayed in economic and political analyses of the phenomenon. In this fashion, the potential of social media to heighten awareness of new Greek migrants’ (dis)identification processes is verified.
Highlights
It is a truism that the advent of social media has radically transformed the lives and experiences of migrants worldwide
Bringing into dialogue insights provided by the social constructionist approach to identity, discourse1 studies and online ethnography, this paper discusses how new Greek migrants discursively construct their identities while participating in social media
Concluding remarks This paper explored some of theidentifications at play when it comes to new Greek migrants’ social media discourse
Summary
It is a truism that the advent of social media has radically transformed the lives and experiences of migrants worldwide. Contemporary migrants, are digitally ‘connected migrants’ (Diminescu, 2008), who benefit from social media opportunities to be here and there at the same time and to co-ordinate and organize their lives. Bringing into dialogue insights provided by the social constructionist approach to identity, discourse studies and online ethnography, this paper discusses how new Greek migrants discursively construct their identities while participating in social media. Migrant identities are special (De Fina, 2003; Krzyżanowski and Wodak, 2007). Migration entails an endless search for belonging as well as an endeavour to face constantly shifting requirements for social acceptance and recognition Migrant identities are ‘inherently ambivalent and constantly subject to inherent and continuous change’ Despite the fact that migration is often viewed as something undertaken by collectives (as denoted by the terms ‘diasporas’, ‘migrant groups’ or ‘ethnic minorities’), recent scholarship puts forward that migration constitutes a subjective and unique experience that defies generalization (De Fina, 2003, pp. 3–4; Krzyżanowski and Wodak, 2007, p. 99)
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