Kurdish Diaspora Online: From Imagined Community to Managing Communities (The Palgrave Macmillan Series in International Political Communication)

The argument offered in this book is that new technology, as opposed to traditional media such as television, radio, and newspaper, is working against the national grain to weaken its imagined community. Online activities and communications between people and across borders suggest that digital media has strong implications for different articulations of identity and belongingness, which open new ways of thinking about the imagined community. The findings are based on transnational activities by Kurdish diaspora members across borders that have pushed them to rethink notions of belonging and identity. Through a multidisciplinary and comparative approach, and multifaceted (online-offline) methodologies, the book unveils tensions between new and old media, and how the former is not only changing social relations but also exposing existing ones. Living in two or more cultures, speaking multiple languages, and engaging in transnational practices, diaspora individuals may have created a momentum that discloses how the imagined nation is diminishing in this digital era. Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Introduction....Pages 3-17 Multiculturalism Debates, Policies, and Concepts....Pages 19-36 Nations, Diaspora, Identity, and Alternative Explorations....Pages 37-64 State Struggles in the Middle East and the Kurdish Diaspora....Pages 65-84 Front Matter....Pages 85-85 “Is it OK?”–Challenging Gender Roles....Pages 87-126 “Am I a Real Kurd?”: Deconstructing Kurdish Identity....Pages 127-162 “My Kurdistan Chapter”: Kurdish Repatriation....Pages 163-175 Front Matter....Pages 177-177 Towards a Weakened Imagined Community....Pages 179-205 Conclusion....Pages 207-214 Back Matter....Pages 215-243 Introduction -- 1. Multiculturalism Debates, Policies, And Concepts -- 2. Nations, Diaspora, Identity And Alternative Explorations -- 3. State Struggles In The Middle East And The Kurdish Diaspora -- 4. Is It Ok? -- Challenging Gender Roles -- 5. Am I A Real Kurd? -- Deconstructing Kurdish Identity -- 6. My Kurdistan Chapter: Returning Home -- 7. Towards A Weakened Imagined Community. Jowan Mahmod. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.