Abstract

In this modern age of conflicts trapped between nationalism, globalization, and migration, digital diasporas have come to represent a threat to national borders, fixed cultures, traditional narratives, and archaic notions of identity and cultural development. Interactivity, networking, immediacy, and presence are connotations of digitalization, while the diaspora connotes displacement, hybridity, fluid citizenship, and nomadic communities. Together, they form the foundation for transnational imaginaries that use technological possibilities to investigate a new level of identity creation in migration and diaspora studies. As a postmodern and transnational travel writer, Pico Iyer echoes these nuances of identity in a polymorphous world with near-invisible boundaries due to the large-scale migration and boom in the travel and tourism industry. Advancements in information and communication technology intensified the creation of the new class of digital migrants who employ these technological advancements to develop a sense of rootedness in the virtual age. Using the notion of digital diaspora as a neo-nomad negotiating technology and existing in a globalized and technocentric world, this paper attempts to explore the fluid identity of the diaspora in a digital world through a careful exegesis of Iyer’s “The Global Soul.” Contemporary virtual space and the digital age are synonymous with hyperreality, simulation, and manipulation. Any form of identity conceived and performed in the digital sphere should be scrutinized to assess its validity and sustainability. Consequently, this paper attempts to explore the tenability of the digital homeland of the diaspora in the contemporary age.