The virtual second generation
- On the negotiation of ethnicity on the internet -
Research Project: The virtual second generation
The virtual second generation
Research project of Dr. Urmila Goel (funded by Volkswagen-Stiftung)
The internet - the new global media, linking people transnationally, providing a public for the marginalised, fostering democracy - versus the internet - virtual irreality, detached from the real world, space for escape, leading to social isolation. From these extreme views research has moved to ethnographic analyses of what actually happens online. Especially young people around the world have adopted the internet as their medium, creating their own virtual spaces. The research project "The virtual second generation" analyses how, why and with what consequences second generation Indians in Germany do this.
About 45.000 Indian citizens live at the moment in Germany. They are relatively few in contrast to other ethnic minorities, especially the Turkish one, and also less than Tamils from Sri Lanka or Afghan refugees. Indian migration to Germany started in the 1950s and 60s with individual young men coming as students, interns and also professionals. In the late 1960s they were joined by young nurses from Kerala. From the 1970s on entry to Germany got increasingly restricted and Indians came either as asylum seekers or illegal workers. The newest phase of Indian migrants is formed by the IT specialists who came from 2000 onwards. The early migrants from the 1950s and 60s started to found families in the 70s. Many of the nurses from Kerala married men from their places of origin and thus a Malayali community started to develop in Germany. Other communities are hardly to be found. The Punjabis, who came from the 1970s onwards, have their Gurdwaras and places of meeting. But many of them live in a legally insecure situation without families. Bengalis meet regularly for celebrating Durga Puja. The new IT specialists have their internet meeting places. But in general people of Indian origin in Germany live dispersed in the country and have in their everyday life little contact to others of the same ethnic background. So the members of the second generation have also grown up in "German" environments, accompanying their parents once in a while to Indian meetings. From the middle of the 1990s onwards they have started to look for and create their own spaces. First they went to seminars organised by the parents, then they organised parties and experimented with the internet.
In the summer of 2000 Germany is discussing chancellor Schröder's plan to give "Green Cards" to foreign IT specialists. The opposition starts a campaign against this, which soon is known as the Kinder statt Inder campaign ("children instead of Indians"). Many members of the second generation Indians are following this campaign closely. For the first time their ancestoral country of origin is in the center of a xenophobic debate. Three young students with Indian parents, who were experimenting with the internet anyway, exchange emails and cartoons on the topic. The idea of an Indernet (network of Indians) develops. They develop the website theinder.net. Here they put the cartoons online want to interlink websites of "Indians" in Germany. They start making contacts with others of the second generation, advertise their idea. The website grows. New technical features like a chat and a guestbook are included, new content is put online, the editorial team grows, traditional print media report on the project. A major technical crisis is mastered. During the India boom in Germany the interest of "Germans" in the website increases. Today thousands of users click on theinder.net every month. Twelve editors work in the team. They claim to make the only German-speaking internet portal for India and call themselves an online community.
The editors, users and non-users of theinder.net as well as other founders of "Indian" projects in Germany are interviewed narratively to gain insights into the relevance of this internet portal. Doing this the research project focuses in particular on the questions of ethnicity, community and the interaction of online and offline.
The internet seems to be the right technique which appeared at the right time for second generation Indians in Germany. In the second half of the 1990s the number of members of the second generation, who no longer just want to follow their parents but actually want to do something on their own, is growing due to demographic reasons. Own spaces are sought and created. The internet appeals especially to young males, who want to experiment with it and thus also theinder.net develops - just at the time when there is a general search for own spaces and the majority of the second generation has internet access.
The internet is a particularly suitable media for marginalised groups. It can be used with little ressources as long as one has access to a computer with internet connection and basic computer skills. It works almost independent of offline hierarchies and the dominant discourse. It can link dispersed members of a marginalised group. For some, like homosexuals, the anonymity of the internet is an important factor, for others, like ethnic minorities, it is the possibility for fast and cheap transnational communication. For the dispersed Indians in Germany it seems to be the only space where many can meet regularly.
Marginalised groups can use the internet to create their own spaces on their own terms. Spaces where they can meet others like themselves, where they can discuss with them and negotiate their we-ness. They define and negotiate the rules, discourses and contents among themselves, and thus also their representation to a larger public. - Theoretically the public for a virtual space is the whole world. In practice the public is much more restricted, as due to the masses of information online, it needs good links and advertisement to make the own space known to a greater public. - In any case internet spaces can thus function both as places for internal communication and external representation.
These are also the self-defined aims of theinder.net: communication and information. The editors want to provide a space where the "community" can interact and where those interested in India can get information. Interactive elements like chat and forums provide the space for communication, articles inform about "their" country. The form and content are shaped by themselves, not by their parents or the host society. This independence is very important for the editors and users from the second generation. Most of them stress the importance of meeting others like themselves. As there are so few Indians in Germany this is something which hardly happens offline. theinder.net is thus one of the few spaces which is their own, where they do not have to explain themselves, where they can just be.
On the first glance theinder.net appears to be a transnational website. It offers not just a German but also an English and a Hindi version. There are special offers for the IT-Indians coming to Germany. The mixture of English and German in the name theinder.net makes Germans think it is made also for an English speaking audience. On a closer look, however, theinder.net is very German or rather German speaking. The English version has little content, the Hindi almost none. Only German speakers understand the play with words in theinder (Inder is German for Indian). The language used in the interactive elements is German. Sometimes Indian languages - or in some cases also Swiss German - are used, but never long, as one or the other of the users will complain that she does not understand this language. theinder.net is a transnational local website. It is a German-speaking portal dealing with "Indians" and images of India in the German-speaking world.
This localisation is not only to be seen in the language but also in content. theinder.net is not a detached virtual space. It is closely linked to the physical space Germany and only by this it has gained its importance. One major feature of the portal is the announcement of events, especially partys, and later the reporting on them, especially with pictures. The virtual space makes it possible for the dispersed second generation to get information on what happens offline and thus makes meetings in physical space possible. Furthermore the interactive elements are used to get to know other second generation members, flirt with them and eventually meet them offline.
To talk of an online community does nonetheless not seem adequate. Although there is a feeling of community for many individuals, community is hardly established. Each part of the internet portal has its own live, there are no generally accepted rules, the users of theinder.net do not meet as a theinder.net community offline. Shared boundaries and symbols are lacking. theinder.net caters for the longing for community without being one, it provides a space to meet, it creates a public and it functions as a network bringing people together. From here further activities can take place which might create communities.
In contrast to the ethnic societies of the parents theinder.net is pan-Indian. Regional conflicts, especially between South and North Indians, do occur occasionally in the interactive elements. But as long as the common language German is used there is a sense of Indianness bridging language, regional and religious differences. Many of the second generation consider it a special success to overcome the regional divisions lived by their parents and in India itself.
But theinder.net is not only inclusive it also marginalises groups. Although some Muslims and Pakistanis use the portal and some are even in the editorial team, the dominant Indian patriotism fostered on theinder.net is developed around Hinduness and Hindi. Hindu nationalistic rhetoric appears at many places. Most do not notice and mind, but some are put off by it and thus do not use the portal. Similarly homosexuals have the impression that theinder.net is homophobic. In both cases this is less due to particular articles which are clearly marginalising - the editorial team prevents this - but rather through the atmosphere created through the discussions in the interactive forums, the selection of articles and the images. Exclusion occurs by what is missing rather than what is there.
© Urmila Goel, www.urmila.de 2004