[ecrea] CFP: Digital Diasporas and Transnational Social Movements: Capital, Labor, Mobility and Identity

*CFP: Digital Diasporas and Transnational Social Movements: Capital, Labor,

Mobility and Identity*

Editor – Radhika Gajjala

(see http://personal.bgsu.edu/~radhik  )



“Digital diasporas” occur at the intersection of local/ global, national/
international, private/public, offline/online and embodied/disembodied. In
digital diasporas, a multiplicity of representations, mass media broadcasts,
textual and visual performances and interpersonal interactions occur. The
term *“digital diaspora”* is most often used to talk about how diasporic
populations the world over use the Internet to connect to each other.
Scholars such as Anna Everett (2009) and Jeniffer Brinkerhoff (2009) have
each used the phrase in relation to very specific situated histories of
forced migrations (African American histories of slavery) and transnational
travel respectively. The link to labor flows and hierarchies of colonialisms
and digital globalization is clear in both. In most general usage of the
phrase “digital diaspora,” however, it is used to describe migrant
populations without attention to the specific conditions of subjectivity
that produces diasporas. Further, it is interesting that international NGOs
(specifically the United Nations) and Transnational corporations as well as
National businesses have mobilized the notion of digital diaspora in
“reverse brain-drain” efforts where very materially successful
transnationals and migrants with moneys to invest actually get to return
home.

In the past I have edited a couple publications that center around South
Asian Digital Diasporas (a Special Section of New Media and Society in 2006)
and South Asian Technospace (a co-edited collection of essays). My intent
with this next volume on digital diasporas is to include material that helps
elaborate on the more current platforms where links between transnational
capital and labor flows can be mapped in the context of the increasing
NGOization and ITization of the globe. Thus questions include (but are not
limited to) – why “digital diaspora” and why now? What forms a “digital
diaspora” within gaming environments and social networks? How are
non-profits and transnational corporations (similarly or differently)
mobilizing this idea of digital diaspora in relation to labor and capital
flows? How does a "digital diaspora" form - how does it "look" - how does it
function and so on.

> From prospective contributors, I will need an extended abstract of  800 to
1000 words that fleshes out the theoretical and methodological approaches in
relation to a specific site that will be examined.



Due Dates:



1] Extended abstract due on June 1st, 2011

2] You will hear back about your abstracts by June 30th 2011 – with
suggestions on how

you can proceed if the abstract is considered acceptable for the collection.

3] Full essays are due by September 1, 2011.

If you have questions regarding the publisher and what exactly I’m looking
for and so on – feel free to email me –
<(Radhika /at/ cyberdiva.org)>

(radhika /at/ cyberdiva.org)<(Radhika /at/ cyberdiva.org)>  with the subject header
“digital diasporas.”


--
Radhika Gajjala
Director, American Culture Studies
Professor of Communication Studies and Cultural Studies
101 East Hall
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH  43403

http://personal.bgsu.edu/~radhik



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