Internet, Place, and Public Sphere in Diaspora Communities

Abstract

Early on, as researchers began to pay attention to diaspora communities’ use of the Internet, Arjun Appadurai predicted that the use of this new medium would have a significant impact on community making in dispersal: These new forms of electronically mediated communication are beginning to create virtual neighborhoods, no longer bounded by territory, passports, taxes, elections, and other conventional political diacritics […] and while the social morphology of these electronic neighborhoods is hard to classify and their longevity difficult to predict, clearly they are communities of some sort. (195) Appadurai was especially interested in the use of media to create “diasporic public spheres” that enable diaspora communities to “imagine” themselves in new ways as part of a linked community even as their members live in geographic dispersal. The creation of such mediated public spheres enables participants to “mov[e] from shared imagination to collective action” (8).

Nepalese diasporic websites: Signs and conditions of a diaspora in the making?

“…A study of authoritative websites and of hubs reveals that most Nepalese diasporic websites are 'representational' (Parham, 2005), in that they are similar to magazines where a country and/or its culture is put on display for its own community or for those outside (see Tables 1-5). It is a top-down model for disseminating information, and is by no means participa- tory or open.…”

“…Ranked twelfth among the most influential websites, Sajha.com would deserve more than just a few lines here; it would need a complete study on its own. Contrary to other websites where information is controlled and posted by a webmaster, Sajha, as a forum, is what Parham (2005) calls network publics. Just as it offers classified ads (for lodgings, jobs), mutual aid, a platform for heated political discussions and entertainment, it is a more democratic space, less administered than others.…”

“…Authoritative websites and most diasporic Nepalese websites correspond to a way of disseminating authoritative discourses made by the elite for the masses. Contrary to the notion of subaltern publics used by Parham (2005), for whom marginalized groups can take over the Internet and create safe spaces, members of the Nepalese diaspora who post on the Web are already integrated in any of their host societies whose standard of education is high, as in the USA (Bohra-Mishra, 2011). The more marginalized Nepalese expatriates who become unskilled workers in the Gulf and the Indian population of Nepalese descent seldom express themselves on the Web.…”