Diaspora Online: Identity Politics and Romanian Migrants

by Ruxandra Trandafoiu

Overview

After the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, millions of Romanians emigrated in search of work and new experiences; they became engaged in an interrogation of what it meant to be Romanian in a united Europe and the globalized world. Their thoughts, feelings and hopes soon began to populate the virtual world of digital and mobile technologies. This book chronicles the online cultural and political expressions of the Romanian diaspora using websites based in Europe and North America. Through online exchanges, Romanians perform new types of citizenship, articulated from the margins of the political field. The politicization of their diasporic condition is manifested through written and public protests against discriminatory work legislation, mobilization, lobbying, cultural promotion and setting up associations and political parties that are proof of the gradual institutionalization of informal communications. Online discourse analysis, supplemented by interviews with migrants, poets and politicians involved in the process of defining new diasporic identities, provide the basis of this book, which defines the new cultural and political practices of the Romanian diaspora.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780857459435
Publisher:	Berghahn Books
Publication date:	04/01/2013
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

Ruxandra Trandafoiu is a senior lecturer in communication at Edge Hill University. A former journalist and art critic, she specializes in nationalism, online communication and European politics. Her co-edited book Musics in Transit: Musical Migration and Tourism is published by Routledge in 2013.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

PART I – DEPARTURES

The ‘Great Escape’: Defining Emigration as Social Transition and ‘Natural Selection’

Chapter 1. ‘Land Without Horizon’: The Post-communist Transition and Emigration as Political Act
Chapter 2. ‘Taking the Bull by the Horns’: Migrant Pathology and the Role of Diasporic Websites

PART II – ARRIVALS

‘Bread Tastes Better at Home’: The (Il)liberal Paradox of Western Societies

Chapter 3. ‘Waking up among Strangers’: Translation, Adaptation, Participation
Chapter 4. ‘Nobody Wants to Know Me’: Immigration Controls and Diasporic Associative Models

PART III – POLITICS

Diasporans Unite: Identity Politics and the Romanian Diaspora

Chapter 5. ‘Brothers, We Need to Do Something!’: Online Activism and the Politicization of the Diaspora
Chapter 6. ‘Languishing in Purgatory’: The Politics of Location and Homeland
Chapter 7.  ‘America, Romanian Land’: Diasporic Identity Politics in the United States and Canada

PART IV – SECOND LIFE

‘Voir, c’est avoir à distance’

Chapter 8. Diaspora Online: Hierarchies and Rules

Conclusion: The Story Is Still Being Written

Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

“The book is an interesting and informative read, a glimpse not only into the souls of individuals but also of their nation of origin that is not finished dealing with its past while wrestling with an uncertain present and future.” · Slavic Review

“…a well-researched and insightful book that contributes to our understanding of migrant activism, online transnationalism, identity formation, and online political participation.” · International Migration Review

“This was a high quality, well written manuscript on the Romanian diaspora. It was very informative, providing interesting commentary and information on a relatively unknown diasporic community.” · Eugenia Siapera, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

From the Publisher