The Internet in a diasporic and transnational context: A case study of a Greek community in Italy

Abstract

Through field research on Greek second-generation migrants in Italy – a hitherto unexplored and under-represented population – this article examines their use of the Internet in a diasporic and transnational context. More specifically, it explores the ways in which the Greek second generation uses the Internet in order to maintain ties with Greece and seeks to understand the role that the Internet performs in the context of diaspora. Moreover, the diasporic media content on the Internet and the interconnection between online and offline worlds will be analysed in order to assess the impact of the Internet on diasporic networks and interpersonal relationships, especially with reference to critical events such as the Greek debt crisis. The research findings show that the maintenance of ties with the motherland is deeply affected by a mass-mediated imaginary that frequently transcends national space. The ease and frequency with which the Internet crosses borders produce undeniably new ways of imagining the place of origin and create alternatives to the nation state, in terms of emotional belonging and identifying transnationally with other diaspora members.