New media, diasporic identity and social exclusion: A study of everyday practices of identity negotiation among second-generation Ghanaian women in Hamburg

Abstract

Abstract This article focuses on new media use of second-generation Ghanaian women living in Hamburg to negotiate a diasporic identity, drawing from empirical findings of a larger study on Ghanaian women’s use of new media to negotiate identity and belonging in Hamburg and London. Using the non-media-centred approach to contextualize new media use with other social and cultural processes in everyday life. The article argues that whereas new media open up possibilities of maintaining communication networks in the face of social exclusion there is a need to consider other social and cultural processes. The article addresses the role of new media in negotiating diasporic identity through communication, and alternative representation as a means of exerting agency, and empowering a diasporic identity in the face of social exclusion.