Dutch Moroccan Websites: A Transnational Imagery?

Abstract

In the last few years, second-generation migrants in the Netherlands have started to set up their own websites, in particular Dutch Moroccan youth. These developments have changed the old phenomenon of migration, making new communication technology a special feature of the concept of transnationalism. For migrants, the Internet is an excellent tool to ally themselves with compatriots throughout the world. This paper focuses on how the second generation of migrants uses discussion boards of websites to express their ties with their country of origin; thus websites are examples of cultural artefacts that can be seen as a virtual way of keeping alive the image of Morocco. Two websites, Maroc.nl and Maghreb.nl, show how Dutch Moroccan youth express their loyalty and belonging to Morocco. They use these websites as a source of information and imagination, therefore the sites function as a binding factor in a Dutch social context. In fact, what these particular websites keep together is not the transnational but the national network of Dutch Moroccan youths.

Keywords:

• Transnationalism
• Websites
• Moroccan Youth
• The Netherlands
• Marriage

Notes

1. Dutch Moroccans sent 236 million euros and 55 million objects back to their country of origin, representing about one fifth of their income. More than half of the migrants aged 35 or more built a house in their home country. In 2002, remittances sent by migrants amounted to 6.4 per cent of Morocco's GNP (De Haas 2005: 62).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lenie Brouwer

Lenie Brouwer is Assistant Professor in Ethnic Studies at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Free University, Amsterdam