Original scientific paper
Incipient Soviet diaspora: encounters in cyberspace
Larisa Fialkova
; Dept. of Hebrew and Comparative Literature, The University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
Maria N. Yelenevskaya
; Dept. of Humanities and Arts, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
Abstract
Computer-mediated communication (CMC) has become a vital part of everyday life. The emphasis in CMC investigation is on the globalizing nature of the Internet, while its localizing role as the meeting place of dispersed communities has not been sufficiently researched. Defining diasporas, scholars indicate the importance of their symbolic dimensions and the ethnic group consciousness. In the case of former Soviets, however, the latter is less important than common language and culture. We discuss institutional and grassroots sites that function as a cyber extension of the real-life diaspora of former Soviets.
Keywords
virtual diaspora; former Soviets; memories; imagined community
Hrčak ID:
2920
URI
Publication date:
5.6.2005.
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