"Whatsupoch" on the Net: The Role of Information and Communication Technology in the Shaping of Transnational Ethiopian Identity

The Ethiopian diaspora is using the Internet increasingly to reflect on its identity, to forge new communities, and to promote cultural innovation. This essay tracks the close association of information and communication technologies (ICTs) with the emergence of the Ethiopian diaspora since 1980, setting forth a series of brief case studies illustrating the role of ICTs among different Ethiopian ethnic communities. It documents the manner in which ICTs shape socialization and address questions of return to homeland; it also explores the way in which Ethiopians have exploited new media and their technical innovations. The essay concludes with an account of ways in which freedom of expression and access to technology enable diaspora Ethiopians to have public discussions and circulate critiques of Ethiopian politics and culture that could not have taken place in Ethiopia, which is not only at the bottom of the digital divide but has exercised censorship over a number of homeland Ethiopian Web sites and blogs. (16 January 2009)