This study focuses on the processes by which new media practices may result in redefining ethnic belonging for diasporic populations. Similarly to other social media, the social network site of Facebook mediates the diasporic experience of Greeks in London. The thesis's methodological choices are aimed at addressing the challenges and potentials that social networking applications have created for practice-based ethnographic research as well as for the study of identity and diaspora. With an aim to describe how a set of participants –Greeks in London– practice their ethnicity and move between online and offline sites, countries, cultures and languages, I triangulate qualitative and quantitative data which emerge from various online and offline locations such as interviews, questionnaires, screen observation and fieldwork. Following the tradition of online ethnography, I examine ethnospecific content shared on the Profile and Group pages, identify the resources which the participants draw upon to articulate their ethnic identity and I investigate the beliefs and attitudes related to their online practices. Along with expressions of banal nationalism, the study points to a range of creative and innovative online practices of hybridization which contest stereotypical notions of Greek ethnicity, create a new identity for ‗place‘ and ‗home‘ and expand the resources from which ethnic identity can be imagined. In a wealth of textual evidence, emerging from the Status Updates and Wall posts, participants celebrate their transnational mobility, report on their experience of homeland in real time, participate in Groups for Greek diaspora and build networks of practice to engage with life in London. The analysis reveals the existence of an online space which facilitates transnational identities and challenges discourses of ethnicity and diaspora.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:628374 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Doutsou, Ioanna |
| Publisher | King's College London (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/ethnicity-mediated-identity-practices-of-greek-diaspora-on-a-social-network-site(dbf56ca5-2043-4fe3-8b8d-ae80f54471f3).html |
Page generated in 0.0156 seconds