eCulture and Diaspora

With Australia being a ‘young’ country it has not had the years behind it to really define its own cultural identity. It is made up of a mix of cultures, those who have migrated here from other countries have brought with them traditions, religions, foods and cultural practices. It is beneficial for these people to keep in touch with their homelands, for the sake of remaining close with family and keeping a sense of their own culture identity. With the aid of new technologies such as: email, internet, sms, mms, mobiles, video linking and blogging it has become simple for almost everyone (with access) to keep in contact with those across continents. The internet has made cultures far more accessible for not just those of that particular culture, but also those who wish to be enlightened and informed of other religions or cultural groups. Online access means an individual can learn more about various social issues such as war and globalisation. Individuals can express their cultural beliefs online and engage in discussions and debates with others of the same or different cultures.

As suggested by Emily Ignacio (in Silver & Massanari, 2006) with new technology we can e-scape geographical boundaries and even biological boundaries. Online you can explore other cultures and learn about their traditions and practices; you can be free of racial bigotry because you can assume another identity, one that has no accent, no colour, just an opinion. You can break geographical boundaries by becoming part of another culture online, even though you may never go to the country the culture originates from. Online cultures and communities can bee seen as a form of e-diaspora, online they can create a website or a blog that gains followers in their created culture, separate from socially constructed boundaries. Through the internet cultures can become closer but they can also widen because some cultures have no online access and no way to express their culture on a global scale. Also there are language boundaries on the internet, where only to a degree can translation sites help. Not all languages have translations on the internet and communicating with people from other cultures can become very difficult.

Silver, D. & Massanari, A. (eds) (2006) Critical Cyberculture studies, New York University Press