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Denationalized digerati in the virtual near abroad

The internet's paradoxical impact on national identity among minority Russians

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA

This article focuses on internet use as a mediating factor in identity formulation and maintenance among the minority Russian community living within post-Soviet space, but outside of the Russian Federation. I argue that regular internet usage among ethnic Russians in the near abroad has precipitated a denationalization of identity since the breakup of the USSR. The shock of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the often painful demands of living as an ‘immigrant’ in one's birth country, and the concurrent psychic traumas of globalization have created a powerful nexus which has deeply impacted younger near abroad Russians who, in turn, have turned to cyberspace to help them make sense of their place in world – a process which has, rather paradoxically, promoted postnational, globalist identities. Through regular web use and the creation of transnational communication networks, these Russian digerati are increasingly acting as agents of globalization within their own communities and steadily distinguishing themselves from the larger Russian community residing in the ethnic homeland.

Key Words: cyberspace • digerati • Russia • ethnic minorities • ethnic Russians • globalization • internet and society • national identity • near abroad • new media

Global Media and Communication, Vol. 2, No. 1, 43-69 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1742766506061816


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