https://doi.org/10.67147/literariness.v1i2.033
Data Diasporas: Transnational Belonging in Networked Worlds
C S PRABHA
Department of English
The Cochin College, Kochi-2. Kerala
Abstract: The digital era has significantly changed how diaspora can be understood, as transnational identities are now shaped within interconnected systems of technology, algorithms, and online platforms. This study introduces the idea of data diasporas to explore how experiences of belonging increasingly develop through digital environments rather than only through physical migration or geographic separation. It argues that online spaces function as socio-technical environments where visibility, recognition, and affiliation are influenced by data flows, surveillance practices, and computational systems. Drawing on perspectives from diaspora studies, digital culture research, and critical data studies, the analysis suggests that individuals today occupy multiple, dispersed identities across platforms, databases, and algorithm-driven spaces. These identities are formed through a combination of conscious self-presentation and automated interpretation, as predictive technologies and institutional data systems help shape how people are categorised and understood.
The discussion also shows that digital infrastructures create new opportunities for sustaining communities, preserving cultural connections, and maintaining emotional relationships across distance. At the same time, these systems can reproduce global inequalities through data extraction, algorithmic bias, and the dominance of powerful platforms. In networked societies, transnational identity can therefore be described as a form of informational mobility, where individuals exist both as social participants and as data-based subjects. Viewing diaspora in this way highlights that belonging today depends not only on physical location but also on engagement with digital systems, making it necessary to rethink established ideas of identity, citizenship, and power in contemporary culture.
Keywords: Data diaspora; Digital identity; Transnational belonging; Algorithmic governance
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