From Naija to Chitown: The New African Diaspora and digital representations of place

Heyd, Theresa; Honkanen, Mirka

doi:10.1016/j.dcm.2015.06.001

Cited by 46 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…In this way, they provoke a "geographical explosion of space" (Graham, 1998, p. 174), since, instead of bringing everyone together in a single cyberspace, they deepen the relationship and commitment of different individuals and groups with specific places (material or virtual). The studies related to diasporic communities or ethnic minorities conducted by Kim (2016) and Heyd and Honkanen (2015) corroborate this perspective.…”

Section: Space-time (De)compression and Digital Technologysupporting

confidence: 57%

Space-time compression and hyperlocalisation: the new flâneurs

Santos

Azevedo

2019

revistacomsoc

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The experience of sensations such as time acceleration and space elimination has become common in modern life, which is increasingly organised in tune with the “real time” imposed by digital media. Throughout this article and starting with the concept of “time compression” presented by David Harvey (1999), the authors contrast technological determinism with other perspectives that suggest there is a dialogue-based relationship between technology and society. The text discusses notions such as deterritorialisation and detemporalisation that make it possible to understand the emergence of a fragmented and timeless data space, which corresponds to a “new geography”, in which it is no longer possible to establish a clear boundary between the physical and the digital world. The text is theoretically underpinned by the concept of the cyberflâneur, exploring the similarities with the 19th century flâneur described by Baudelaire (1996). Analysis of a set of artistic and experimental interventions addressing issues such as hyperlocalisation or ubiquity and pervasiveness enables us to use the character of the cyberflâneur in a twofold sense – as a sign of technical acceleration and also as a symbol of resistance to such acceleration. The authors conclude that the exponential evolution and increasing “naturalisation” of technology obligates us to consider its determining role in social dynamics, namely by transforming our relationship with the dimensions of space and time.

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Section: Space-time (De)compression and Digital Technologysupporting

confidence: 57%

Space-time compression and hyperlocalisation: the new flâneurs

Santos

Azevedo

2019

revistacomsoc

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“…In these works, transnational speakers and communities are understood as separate from their home communities, even though both home and host communities have been found to influence their language use and attitudes (see Sharma, 2014 on South Asian English speakers in London). There are a few examples of work that looks at the language of both diasporic and non‐diasporic speakers, but this is the exception (Heyd & Honkanen, 2015). However, ‘[t]hrough the high mobility of speakers, linguistic features become globally available resources that are used to claim and affiliate with certain stances and identities’ (Heyd & Honkanen, 2015, p. 17), regardless of physical location, and speakers are able to draw on these features whenever and wherever they please.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

British and American norms in the Trinidadian English lexicon

Wilson

2022

World Englishes

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Previous work on norm orientations in the Caribbean Englishes has focussed largely on phonological norms, such as accents, and, to a lesser extent, grammatical norm orientation. Outside of the publication of dictionaries, however, lexical norms and their spread have received little attention. This paper examines lexical norm orientations in Trinidadian English, presenting the results of a corpus‐based study and survey study of the lexical preferences of speakers of Trinidadian English. The findings suggest that while there is evidence of American influence on Trinidadian lexicon, British variants persist. Indeed, British and American variants often coexist, albeit with different connotations in Trinidadian English. From a methodological standpoint, this paper demonstrates the benefits of using a mixed‐methods approach in looking at norms, particularly with regard to lexicon.

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“…As argued previously (Heyd and Honkanen 2015), this is also the case -and possibly in particular the case -for the discourse of migrants and members of diasporic networks. Thus in diasporic discourse, speakers have a communicative need to foreground their relation to place: their roots, their place of residence, and the trajectory of migration that connects these dots (Heyd and Honkanen 2015). In this sense, narratives of belonging in such discourse are not a coincidental feature, but an important discursive tool and sociolinguistic resource for communicants.…”

Section: A Socio/linguistic Perspectivementioning

confidence: 65%

“…The notion of nonstandard place names is explored in depth in Heyd and Honkanen (2015); as was shown there, such toponyms are strategically employed for self-positioning, for example to show affiliation with or distance from a specific place (and, by extension, the social meanings associated with that place). In other words, place names play a crucial role in the discursive place-making that speakers engage in (Myers 2006).…”

Section: Example 4 Userid 6409 (F)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Narratives of Belonging in the Digital Diaspora: Corpus Approaches to a Cultural Concept

Heyd

2016

Open Linguistics

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Abstract:In this study, I examine narratives of belonging through a corpus of digital diasporic discourse. The corpus is based on a Nigerian online discussion forum; its users primarily consist of both local Nigerians and members of the globally dispersed Nigerian diaspora. The study sets out by providing a working definition of narratives of belonging couched in the sociolinguistic tradition of approaching narrative structures. This includes aspects of personal narration, structural features, and reference to concepts that are salient in the construction of belonging. From this preliminary definition, retrieval strategies are developed to identify narratives of belonging in a large-scale dataset through a combination of manual and automated searches. The dataset of narratives is then analyzed, both in terms of structural features such as length and variation in narrative complexity, as well as linguistic properties, such as code-switching and the use of toponyms. Finally, these analyses are used to identify emerging topic strands and recurring themes in these narratives of belonging. It can be argued that such codifications of the diasporic experience are created and reinforced through individuated stories. Narratives of belonging, in other words, systematically contribute to the identity work performed in and by a digital diasporic community.

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From Naija to Chitown: The New African Diaspora and digital representations of place

Cited by 46 publications

References 9 publications

Space-time compression and hyperlocalisation: the new flâneurs

Space-time compression and hyperlocalisation: the new flâneurs

British and American norms in the Trinidadian English lexicon

Narratives of Belonging in the Digital Diaspora: Corpus Approaches to a Cultural Concept

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