ABSTRACT
Chapter 7 examines how Information and Communications technology (ICT) and internal relations were conducive to the ethnic condition as condensed in the homemaking. The chapter critiques social capital theories and network theories that presume exchange rationality and disregard the content of relationships. It argues that the relational content represents the glue and that the bonding forces include identity issues, family relations, tourism, religion and cultural pride. The chapter analyses how Dutch Hindustani youngsters use modern ICT to develop new networks and lifestyles characterised by joy, relief and vivacity. These lifestyles have been compatible with some degree of Dutchification, while also developing a ‘youth culture’. The combination of ICT, new ethnic content and networks accounts for a kind of ethnic cohesion that enables its maintenance from a distance. The chapter discloses the use of technology, networks and the incorporation of ethnic content in the lives of youngsters at the levels of the family, the ethnic community and the transnational community.
