Ethnopolitics in Cyberspace - by Robert A Saunders (Hardcover)

About the Book

Ethnopolitics in Cyberspace examines the central role of the Internet in shaping national identity among stateless nations and national minorities in the twenty-first century. By creating new spaces for political discourse, alternative avenues for cultural production, and nove...

Book Synopsis

Ethnopolitics in Cyberspace examines the central role of the Internet in shaping national identity among stateless nations and national minorities in the twenty-first century. By creating new spaces for political discourse, alternative avenues for cultural production, and novel means of social organization, the author argues that the Web is remaking what it means to be part of nation.

Review Quotes

Clear and comprehensive, essential reading for students and scholars alike, an authoritative analysis of nationalism and nationality in the era of the Internet, Ethnopolitics in Cyberspace fills a critical gap in our hitherto anecdotal understanding of the use of the Web by cyber-elites and peoples without countries. Too sophisticated a scholar to merely celebrate the new ecumene of cyberspace, Saunders shows that the Internet is not neutral but a double-edged sword. He analyzes how subaltern nations, national minorities, immigrant diasporas, and other groups without real-world territories are able to bridge borders, oceans, and time electronically to pursue their identity projects.

Drawing on a variety of disciplines in innovative and exciting ways, Robert A. Saunders has produced a delightfully written and provocatively argued book that will challenge many views of how national identity is produced and reproduced in today's world.

Intriguing, topical, balanced, and well-supported by empirical information, Ethnopolitics in Cyberspace will likely become an important book on the contemporary evolution of nationalism.

About the Author

Robert A. Saunders is assistant professor in the Department of History, Economics, and Politics at the Farmingdale State College, SUNY.