ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the role played by the digital online media in the development and maintenance of transnational social networks among ethnic minority Norwegian youth. It looks at how ethnic minority youth interact online beyond ethnic or nation-based online spaces. Cross-cutting religious, linguistic and regional differences, as well as variations in patterns of migration, all mean this is not a culturally homogenous group. Throughout, a central analytical assumption is that all these individuals are recognized as different both in the physical and categorical sense, in everyday social interaction, and in media and political discourse. The chapter provides some general insights on the attitudes and practices of the participants in relation to staying connected with their home countries and participating in their diasporic community. This will provide a broad frame in which one can assess the role communication technologies play in the reconfiguration of the participants' transnational relationships and sense of identity.