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Spinning the web of
identity: the roles of the
internet in the lives of
immigrant adolescents
NELLY ELIAS
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
DAFNA LEMISH
Tel Aviv University, Israel
Abstract
This article illuminates the roles of the internet in the unique
intersection between adolescence and immigration. The data
presented were gathered through in-depth interviews with 70
teenage immigrants from the former Soviet Union to Israel. The
analysis suggests that the internet provides valuable resources for
personal growth and empowerment, as it helps to develop and
strengthen many aspects of young immigrants’ evolving identity
during a critical period of social and material disadvantage, when
they are engaged in settling into and adjusting to a new society.
This case study highlights the importance of researching the
internet’s roles in the lives of disadvantaged populations, and the
potential of this medium for closing knowledge and social gaps.
Key words
adolescents • former Soviet Union • identity • immigration •
integration • internet • Israel • safety • social relationships
INTRODUCTION
Immigration and integration into a new society are among the most dynamic
and complex processes in an individual’s life. They are characterized by
new media & society
Copyright © 2009 SAGE Publications
Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC
Vol 11(4): 000–000 [DOI: 10.1177/1461444809102959]
ARTICLE
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numerous losses, confusions and challenges that eventually lead to significant
personal transformations. Moreover, this experience is especially difficult for
immigrant teenagers who are not only detached from their familiar culture
as they move to a new country, but in doing so leave behind their status as
children. The confluence of these two significant transitions and challenges
– migration and adolescence – at one junction in life raises severe cognitive
emotional-behavioral social challenges that must be confronted (see e.g.
James, 1997; Yeh and Inose, 2002). At the same time, identity crises caused
by immigration as well as coming of age have the potential for personal
growth, and with the availability of sufficient internal and external resources,
this can be accomplished successfully (Mirsky, 2005).
Indeed, the research literature reveals that the mass media do provide young
immigrants with various resources needed for adaptation, since they serve as
agents of socialization, an emotional shelter, a substitute for communicating
with local peers, a tool for inter-generational cultural transmission and a site
for exploring various aspects of new identity formation (see e.g. de Block and
Buckingham, 2007; Durham, 2004; Elias and Lemish, 2008; Zohoori, 1988).
However, while previous studies have focused for the most part on the role
of television in young immigrants’ lives, the present study explores the various
internet resources that assist immigrant adolescents in the complex process of
identity construction and adaptation to the new surroundings, in the case of
immigrant youth from the former Soviet Union to Israel.
The research literature reveals that these young immigrants are well
adjusted and play by local rules in some realms of their lives, while in
other aspects they stick to their original cultural background. Thus, young
‘Russians’ successfully navigate their way through various Israeli institutions
and exhibit good adaptive skills necessary for their future upward mobility:
command of Hebrew, understanding of local social codes and instrumental
contacts with Israeli peers. Yet, in the private sphere of their lives, most stay
firmly rooted in their co-ethnic circle, which serves as the key provider of
social support and a safety net (Remennick, 2003). Similarly, several studies
suggest that Russian-speaking immigrant youngsters are engaged in a selective
acculturation process (Portes and Zhou, 1993), in which they negotiate
their own distinct pathway between home and host cultures, augmented
by new transnational opportunities. While adopting multiple elements of
local conduct, lifestyle and fashion options, young immigrants retain the
core mindset and outlook shaped during their formative years in the former
Soviet Union. As a result, a new hybrid cultural realm is emerging, typified
by hyphenated identities (Russian and Israeli), lifestyles (e.g. Russian discos
and clubs that feature Russian, Israeli and MTV-style music), mixed lingos
and transnational links with friends in the former Soviet Union and other
countries (Anteby-Yemini, 2003; Niznik, 2003).
Elias & Lemish: Spinning the web of identity
3
IMMIGRANTS AND THE INTERNET
Interpersonal and mass communication play decisive roles in immigrants’
adaptation and identity construction, as according to Kim’s theory of
cross-cultural adaptation, in which ‘adaptation of an individual to a given
cultural environment occurs in and through communication’ (2001: 36).
Hence, media uses play a variety of roles in the immigrants’ lives, in keeping
with the diversity and dynamics of the ongoing adjustment to a new society
and maintenance of their original cultural identity (see e.g. Bailey et al., 2007;
Elias, 2008; Georgiou, 2006a).
Furthermore, the research literature suggests that the internet tends to
replace the traditional media in the process of immigrants’ cultural adaptation
and social integration. Thus, for example, Georgiou (2006b) found that the
internet provided a space in which small immigrant communities in the
UK which lack economic and political resources could develop efficient
communication channels for spreading information that is vital to their
survival in the new society. In addition, the internet served as a forum for
public discourse on issues related to immigrants’ painful experiences, usually
excluded from the mainstream British media, thus contributing to the
immigrants’ empowerment.
In addition, immigrant websites fulfill an important role in their search
for the new cultural identity versus preserving the original one. Thus, in
examining a portal that provided historical and cultural information about
India to immigrants of Indian origin living in the USA, Mitra (1997) found
that it not only enabled immigrants to maintain online contact with their
homeland, but also redefined Indian identity in the diaspora. Similarly, Kozar
(2002) revealed that the Chinese online literary periodicals originating in
Canada enriched traditional Chinese cultural symbols by placing them in the
new social and cultural surroundings.
Alongside studies examining the content prevalent on immigrant websites,
Yelenevskaya’s (2005) ethnographic study of a small sample of Russian-
speaking immigrants in Israel and Germany provides interesting insights
into the social and cultural identity of the diasporic websites’ visitors. The
participants frequently visited chat and discussion groups in Russian in
order to share their immigrant experiences and express feelings of alienation
towards the host society. Moreover, the participants emphasized their strong
ties with other Russian immigrants, and expressed criticism towards those
immigrants who had created friendships with the local residents.
These findings were refuted partially by Elias and Shorer-Zeltser (2006),
who conducted an electronic survey of visitors to Russian-language websites
in Germany, Israel and the USA. On the one hand, the research found that
‘diasporic’ features constitute a central part of participants’ self-definition.
In fact, most of the participants expressed feeling a greater affinity for other
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‘Russians’, wherever they might be, than for the residents of the host
country. On the other hand, the findings did not indicate that immigrants’
association with the transnational diaspora led to their social alienation, as
insinuated by Yelenevskaya (2005), since more than half of the participants
declared that they had established friendships with local residents, and most
claimed that it was important to keep up-to-date on current events in the
host country.
In contrast with the extensive literature on the internet and adult
immigrants, there is modest research on adolescent immigrant users.
Hence, only two recent studies are directly relevant to the present research.
A study by d’Haenens (2003) on second-generation immigrant youth in
the Netherlands found a strong link between the higher score of ethnic
identification and users’ needs, such as looking for news about the country
of origin, seeking information on Islam and maintaining contact with co-
ethnic peers through the internet. Similarly, Rydin and Sjöberg’s (2008)
study on internet uses in refugee families in Sweden indicates that migrant
children who identified more with their ethnic community used the internet
for cultural aims related to their parents’ homeland, and participated in intra-
communal chat groups.
Furthermore, a growing body of research on internet uses by non-
migrant youth suggests that this medium is used not only to support offline
relationships (see e.g. Livingstone and Bober, 2005; Mesch and Talmud,
2007), but also to provide young users with valuable resources for identity
construction. One reason for the creation of virtual identity is explained
by teens’ aspiration towards a new self, realized through the trying on of
different roles in order to experiment with facets of identities suppressed in
offline situations (see e.g. Donath, 1999; Suler, 2002; Turkle, 1996). More
specifically, researchers argue that the internet’s anonymity and absence of
visual and audio cues help adolescents to express their emotional worlds and
develop intimate relationships (Holloway and Valentine, 2002; Valkenburg
et al., 2005).
Based on this understanding, the present study focuses on the online
experiences of immigrant adolescents, who are undergoing an even more
complex process of maturation and whose ‘virtual’ life might compensate
them for some of the many difficulties stemming from relocation and
resettlement into a new and sometimes hostile environment. Accordingly,
in focusing on the case of former Soviet Union youngsters who had arrived
in Israel as part of the 1 million immigration wave, this study investigates the
roles that the internet is playing in these immigrant adolescents’ transition
into a new society.
This study assumes that due to the internet’s unique characteristics, such
as interactivity, anonymity and cultural variety, it might be especially central
Elias & Lemish: Spinning the web of identity
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in young immigrants’ adaptation to a new society and in their search for a
new identity, alongside preserving the original one. Thus the present study
highlights the intersection between adolescence, relocation and the internet,
focusing on five possible recourses provided by the internet for immigrant
youth:
• a source of information about the new society;
• a cultural resource for social empowerment;
• a communication platform with native-born peers;
• online contact with the former homeland and friends left behind; and
• the only safe haven for trying on new roles and identities.
METHOD
The present study is based on in-depth interviews conducted in 2005 with 70
immigrant youth from the former Soviet Union aged 12–18, who had been
living in Israel for between six months and five years. The sample consisted
of 27 boys and 43 girls, and was solicited using a combination of two non-
random sampling methods: snowball and quota. The sample was divided
equally between the urban center of Israel and smaller towns in the southern
part of the country, and between the more ‘veteran’ immigrants who had
been living in Israel for three to five years and ‘newcomers’ (between six
months and two years).
Two trained research assistants of Russian origin conducted the all
interviews in Russian. The interviews took place in the youth’s room at
home and lasted on an average for one hour. The interviews focused on the
main patterns of media usage, while distinguishing between different print
and electronic media in the Russian, Hebrew and English languages; the
gratifications sought and acquired from these media; and the roles of different
media in the participants’ social and family lives. In addition, a series of open-
ended questions were asked about various aspects of the participants’ social
and cultural integration, such as the use of the Russian and Hebrew languages
in everyday life; friendships with Israeli-born children; and the sense of
belonging to the host society and to the homeland.
Although the interviews did not focus solely on the internet, this medium
emerged as the most central theme. As a result, a significant part of the
interviews was directed to questions regarding the participants’ access to the
internet; how much time was spent surfing the internet; favorite websites,
their main characteristics and the reasons for surfing m; other internet-related
activities; patterns of internet surfing before immigration; the attitudes and
meanings associated with internet-related activities, and so forth.
The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim and submitted to a
grounded analysis, as is customary in qualitative studies (Lindlof and Taylor,
2002). Each transcript was read and reread and coded for emerging categories.
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For example, a quote by a female teenager referring to a desire to compare
her appearance with standards of beauty appearing on the internet and
another one dealing with body image were grouped into a category labeled
‘feminine identity’. This category, in turn, became a sub-category in the
more general theme of using the internet to experiment with new identities.
These themes are illustrated by several quotes as ‘exemplars’ that serve not
only as evidence of themselves, but stand for other similar quotes representing
the more general theme under discussion.
RESULTS
Overall, the findings revealed that the internet was the most favorite medium
for immigrant teenagers, although most of them began to use it only after
immigration to Israel. Before immigration, only 15 of the 70 participants had
any access to the internet, whereas in Israel 62 participants used the internet
regularly, at least once a week. The average amount of time spent surfing
the internet was two hours per day. Of the participants, 52 had an internet
connection at home and 38 had one in their bedroom; 10 stated that they
surfed regularly but did not have a computer at home – they usually had
access at school and more rarely at their friends’ houses.
Learning about the new society
One of the most vital tasks related to relocation into a new society is the need
to learn everything from scratch, meeting the challenges posed by the need
to learn norms of behavior, lifestyle, customs and so forth. In this regard, the
findings suggest that most of the participants used the websites established by
former Soviet Union immigrants in Israel that offer information about Israeli
society and its various institutions. Moreover, of all the media available to the
participants, including television channels, radio stations and newspapers in
their mother tongue, the Russian-language internet was the one cited more
often and elaborated upon as the major source of much valued information
and learning in their ongoing process of cultural and social integration.
For example, Ania explained how the internet helped her to reduce the
knowledge gap and therefore some of her anxieties and insecurities:
First of all, when I came here, I entered Google and read the news about
Israel. Through the news I discovered that in Israel there are sports, concerts.
I discovered that Israel is not a completely different world. It gave me a sense
of security that I am not in a totally foreign world. I thought that I will need
to learn everything anew, but it turned out that the difference is only in the
language. (Ania, 12, 1.5 years in Israel)
The information sought after in the internet extends along a continuum:
from macro-issues of learning about current events and politics, to the micro-
level of practical information related to everyday life and recent trends of
Elias & Lemish: Spinning the web of identity
7
local youth culture. Moreover, it was evident in many of the interviews that
the immigrant teenagers were aware of their parents’ incompetence regarding
various aspects of life in Israel. Hence, instead of consulting with them, they
surfed the internet both for practical information and prospects for a better
future:
There is this website that translates things from Russian to Hebrew. That’s
important. There are news sites about the political and economic situation in
Israel. They explain the world we live [in] today. And besides this, I enter a
chat, choose a topic and correspond. I can ask all kinds of questions and receive
all kinds of answers; for example, about life in a different city. Let’s say, Herzelia
[a largely well-to-do town in the center of Israel]. Is it good or bad there?
What’s interesting there? How is the weather? We don’t plan to live in Beer-
Sheva [a peripheral city in the south] forever. Later we will decide where we
wish to live. (Jenia, 16, one year in Israel)
I search for everything on the internet. A vacation in Eilat [a resort town on the
Red Sea], for example. I look at pictures about Haifa [a port city in the north of
Israel] or the Mediterranean Sea. And I registered on a portal that has all kinds of
important and interesting things: jokes, stories, technology, trips, and vacations.
In technology, I am interested in information about popular cars [in Israel], in
trips – where is a good place to travel. (Niya, 15, 1.5 years in Israel)
In contrast with participants such as Niya and Jenia, who were searching
for practical information, other participants were looking at Russian-language
websites for information aimed at familiarizing themselves with the local
youth culture. This role of the internet was especially important, given the
fact that due to language and cultural barriers, most of the participants did not
have friends among local peers who could serve as their guides into the local
cultural labyrinth:
When I arrived in the country, I found Israeli music on my own on the
internet. When surfing at Zvuki.ru [a Russian musical website], I found that
they had a category called ‘Israeli Music’. I entered, listened, and loved it. I was
particularly interested in what they wrote there about Israeli music and since
then I download Israeli songs from this site. (Arcadia, 16, two years in Israel)
Thus, the data suggest that the internet joins more traditional media which
serve as socializing agents in immigrants’ first steps towards adjustment to the
host society (see e.g. Durham, 2004; Elias, 2008; Kim, 2001; Zohoori, 1988).
Moreover, the findings demonstrate that in comparison to other media,
the internet has even stronger potential to assist immigrants’ integration,
due primarily to the enormous diversity of websites in their mother tongue
which provide useful information about the many facets of life in the host
country. That is, the linguistic diversity offered by the internet releases the
pressure associated with acquisition of the host language for the sake of
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cultural learning, as it provides young immigrants with a non-threatening
linguistic environment within which they can explore their new home.
Furthermore, the internet offers immigrant adolescents not only the formal
and unidirectional information published by online newspapers, but also
information provided by the more ‘veteran’ immigrants participating in the
chat and discussion groups, thus facilitating a transfer of valuable knowledge
from more experienced to less experienced immigrants.
Social empowerment
The findings reveal that a typical feeling shared by the participants in their
initial stages of settling down was that of helplessness and disorientation due
to insufficient language knowledge and misunderstanding of local codes of
behavior. This sense of psychological insecurity is accompanied often by a
long-term shortage of economic resources, which places significant limits on
young immigrants’ ability to satisfy their various needs and desires. As a result,
during their first years in a new country, the participants felt a deep sense of
inferiority towards the local residents, whom they perceived as much more
self-confident, successful and powerful.
Hence, in parallel with surfing the various websites oriented towards
the new society, its customs and culture, the internet was exploited to
reinforce original cultural identity, and so to gain better status in the new
social environment. This was especially important due to the fact that the
participants’ self-esteem and confidence had been damaged, among other
factors, by an offensive reaction to, and even rejection by, local peers and
adults. In response, most of the participants wished to emphasize their cultural
superiority over local Israelis, often with the help of websites originating in
the homeland:
I don’t like Israeli boys. They walk around in dirty and torn clothes. In my
hometown everybody was clean, dressed nicely. When I am sad, I surf the
internet. I can find pictures there, interesting stories about Russia, even to
remind myself what a man should look like … I wish I could show this to my
classmates at school, so they would see how everything there is so beautiful …
I want so very much for Israelis to understand how they should dress. This is
very important if we are to raise Russian immigrants’ status. (Anastasia, 13, two
years in Israel)
Through Google I can find pictures of Minsk [the city he came from]. I have
visited these websites many times in order to look at pictures of Minsk … it’s
the homeland. I download these pictures so that later I can show them to my
Israeli friends: ‘Look where I lived! It is not Beer-Sheva.’ (Kiril, 16, three years
in Israel)
According to Kiril, Beer-Sheva, where he currently lives, is ‘a small town,
dirty and crowded, in comparison to Minsk’.
Elias & Lemish: Spinning the web of identity
9
In addition, this need to show off Russian cultural attributes was
particularly evident in the pictures chosen by the participants for their desktop
background: usually pictures of their favorite Russian pop stars, Russian
landscapes or pictures of the participants’ hometown downloaded from the
internet. The internet, in this case, served as a testimonial as well as a source
of legitimization for maintaining the Russian identity in Israel.
Alongside recruiting homeland websites in order to resist local assimilative
forces, the participants used the internet to reinforce their personal
capabilities, such as intellectual, athletic or technical abilities and hobbies
perceived to be superior to those of local teens:
Sometimes I feel worthless, as if Russians are not as good as Israelis. So I try to
be better than them in school, in general knowledge. I am proud of the fact that
I am a good student, that I know lots of things … Thanks to the internet,
I always have something to say. (Anna, 12, five years in Israel)
I prefer professional websites that explain how to build internet sites. I also like
to redesign computer games. I even changed my cellphone. I’ve downloaded a
program from the internet and put it into my phone. As a result I don’t have the
Hebrew and the Arabic languages in my cellphone, but only the Russian and
the Ukrainian. What does it give me? A feeling of power! (Andrei, 15, 1.5 years
in Israel)
We can see from the quotes that the internet helps immigrant teenagers to
change the balance of power between what could be weak and dependent
immigrants and powerful hosts. This role is particularly evident in Andrei’s
quote, as the internet provides him with a means to declare his resistance to
local identities, as they appear in Hebrew and Arabic menus in his mobile
phone. Here, there is evidence of internet use as a central tool in immigrants’
social empowerment as well as in their struggle to legitimize their original
identity, as suggested by Georgiou (2006b). Such internet roles are especially
important, given the fact that the living conditions of most of the participants
were characterized by a high shortage of material resources, which placed an
additional obstacle in the way of their efforts to improve their social position.
Preserving connection with the homeland and co-ethnic peers
The findings suggest that most of the participants longed for the people and
places they had left behind, and they constantly looked back at their very
recent past, from which they had been cut off so abruptly. In the following
quote, Jenia expresses the frustration of a crisis experienced with the loss of
significant parts of her previous identity, including friends and a part of herself
as an athlete. Serving as a lifeline to a past life, she reattaches herself to it with
the aid of the internet:
I want to find a chat related to my city. It’s a pity that I haven’t found it yet.
I have been looking for it since I arrived in Israel. I found my school website.
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There’ve been a lot of changes there. I’ve visited my sport center’s website.
I read news about last [sports] competitions, saw pictures … faces of people that
I know. I want so badly to find some people to correspond with … My whole
life was spent there. (Jenia, 15, one year in Israel)
It appears that the internet helps Jenia to continue her ruptured life story,
providing her with an opportunity to follow recent events in her previous
school and sports center. Other participants also used the internet in order
to maintain ongoing contact with the former homeland, such as following
recent trends in popular music, political events and even the weather in their
hometown. Hence, in the situation of relocation and resettlement, when the
old links have been torn asunder and the new ones have yet to be established,
the internet is used by immigrant adolescents for virtual reconnecting to the
homeland, thus preserving some continuity between the past and the present,
keeping alive their original life story. These findings are much in line with an
extensive discourse on ‘diasporic identity’, conceptualized by Safran (1991)
and further developed by Clifford, who stated that:
diaspora culture … mediates, in a lived tension, the experiences of separation
and entanglement, of living here and remembering/desiring another place.
(1994: 311)
Furthermore, most scholars agree today that the internet offers a new
context for thinking about diaspora, as it becomes a main medium of
‘selective social interaction and symbolic belonging’ (Castells, 2001: 37).
Accordingly, the present study suggests that immigration can induce nostalgic
emotions typical of the diasporic condition, even among very young
immigrants who use the internet to reconstruct the link with their homeland.
In addition, a considerable part of the participants’ internet use was
dedicated to interpersonal communication with Russian-speaking teenagers
in Israel and other countries, as well as with the friends left behind. These
contacts with co-ethnic youngsters were stable and very intensive. Many
exchanges evolved around issues of romantic nature, while others were based
on mutual interests typical to young immigrants who were making their first
steps into new surroundings:
I don’t feel safe either at school or on the street. I feel safe only when I participate
in the [Russian] chats. I start asking questions and people ask me. People from
different countries, from Ukraine, Israel, Germany … All speak Russian … I just
need a person who understands me. (Aljona, 13, two years in Israel)
I correspond regularly with some guy. I know him from Russia. I write him
letters several times a month since I’ve arrived here. Don’t think that there
aren’t boys here for me. it’s just because I need somebody who understands
me. I need to talk with a person heart to heart. About what? About new
experiences, about feelings. (Alina, 16, 1.5 years in Israel)
Elias & Lemish: Spinning the web of identity
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Both Aljona and Alina express a longing for an internet soulmate with
whom they can share their experiences as new immigrants and confide their
feelings. Thus the internet is perceived by them as an aid in this complicated
process of immigration, a way to maintain contact with soulmates who must
be Russian speakers like themselves, and who can understand the ‘real me’,
even if this ‘me’ is being modified to something new throughout the initial
years of settling down in Israel.
This ‘real me’ can be understood in terms of the conceptualization of a
‘true self’ on the internet (see Bargh et al., 2002), which consists of ‘those
identity-important and phenomenally real aspects of self not often or easily
expressed to others’ (2002: 34). The participants believed that the internet
facilitates expression of their ‘true self’, but only in interactions with fellow
Russians. It would seem that the immigrant ‘real me’ can emerge and flourish
in the safe environment of the internet, but mostly when it meets another
‘true self’ that shares a similar cultural background.
Practising social interaction with local peers
The findings reveal that the social circle of most of the participants consisted
of other immigrants of the same cultural background. Offline relationships
with local teenagers were described in terms of antagonism and mutual
distrust. As a result, friendships and romantic relationships with local teenagers
were extremely uncommon in the sample. In these circumstances the internet
provided the immigrant teenagers with a relatively safe environment in which
they could initiate contact with local peers without fear of being mistreated
or ridiculed, and so negotiate and clarify those issues necessary for their
personal development:
I like to chat with people through the internet. It should be a girl, of course.
So it would be interesting to talk to her. Usually I correspond in Russian,
but once I wrote to an Israeli girl, too. Now I want to correspond with an
Ethiopian [immigrant] girl. At my school there are a lot of Ethiopian girls, they
are beautiful, but it is not acceptable for Russians to date Ethiopians. (Kiril, 17,
four years in Israel)
Once my friend and I organized a chat with 10 people from Jerusalem, Haifa,
Rishon Lezion … The important thing was that different people took part in
this chat. There were immigrants from different countries, from Argentina, from
France and local Israelis. Boys and girls. We met each other in this forum …
One particular time we picked a subject – it was about love – and we discussed
it for several hours. (Andrei, 17, five years in Israel)
Here, the internet serves as a central social resource for one of the most
crucial challenges of adolescence – the exploration and realization of the
growing need for friendship, love and intimacy. These virtual contacts help to
break significant social, cultural and linguistic barriers between the immigrant
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teenagers and their local counterparts, thus contributing to mutual trust and
understanding. Moreover, the findings show that a real meeting with local
youth could be very traumatic for immigrant youngsters due to the lack of
cultural knowledge and the differences in dress, dancing style or musical
taste from those of local peers. Such apprehension is especially prominent in
the following statements by Alina and Masha, who prepare for meaningful
contact with local teens by surfing the internet:
I visit an Israeli site devoted to discos. There you can see what discos look like,
what Israelis do there. It is interesting to see how they have fun, what they
wear, how they behave. I would like to go myself, but it’s possible that I could
come to a disco and wouldn’t know how to act. But this is important. I just
arrived. There are many problems. So, in the meantime, I only watch on the
internet. (Alina, 15, 1.5 years in Israel)
My favorite site is one that a girl from my class built about our school: what
happens during the day, who fought with whom, who made friends with
whom. I don’t like to hang around and ask about things, and this way I can read
other opinions, just to be in. I mean that, if someone asks me about something,
at least I can respond. When I come to school I know what’s going on. It is
quite understandable, since in school I am not at the center of things. (Masha,
13, three years in Israel)
While this practice differs from virtual role-playing and identity
experimentation on the web, it seems to fulfill quite a similar role:
exploration of new social skills under conditions that minimize the danger
of social sanctions, risks and alienation. Furthermore, these findings support
previous studies of the compensating function of host television in its role as
‘surrogate friend’, filling the void of face-to-face communication with local
peers, especially during the first years in the host country (see e.g. Elias and
Lemish, 2008; Zohoori, 1988).
Experimenting with new identities
Despite the intensive and diverse use of the internet by most of the
participants, not one of them mentioned situations where they wished to
adopt an invented identity, such as one of a local teenager, in order to be able
to experiment with role-playing. It is possible that such absence reveals the
depth of identity crisis that is a result of migration, as well as the intensity of
the young immigrants’ involvement in negotiations between their original
identity and the new identity options available to them:
Here [in Israel] I don’t know anything. I don’t even know who I am. The
only thing I definitely know is that I am a human being, a biological unit, who
needs food, water and security. I am not even sure that I am a thinking creature
when I meet native Israelis. Because every time I try to express my thoughts in
Elias & Lemish: Spinning the web of identity
13
Hebrew, people look at me as if I was crazy, and I feel myself the same way.
Here I feel as somebody took off my skin or, at least, my clothes … I feel as if
I was a fly in the spider’s web. I make some moves, but they are all wrong and I
get more and more confused. (Elena, 16, six months in Israel)
I don’t feel at home here. I feel like I was a guest. What do I do about it? Try
to find a balance. When I hear how the Russians, let’s say my parents, criticize
Israelis – it pisses me off. I think that they simply don’t know Israelis and then
can’t judge them … Every day [at school] I represent Russians to the Israelis and
at home I represent Israelis to the Russians. Actually I am alone. (Andrei, 16,
five years in Israel)
For recent immigrants such as Elena, this was an especially hard process, as
they found it difficult to understand the local norms and codes of behavior in
parallel with managing the loss of their original symbols of status and markers
of identity. Although the more ‘veteran’ immigrants such as Andrei manage
to gather sufficient knowledge about the host culture and local residents,
nevertheless they found themselves in a daily struggle over identity, which
was accompanied often by a deep sense of loneliness.
As a result, the central role that the internet plays for the identity formation
of these adolescents is expressed in the negotiation with their real-life
identities. An important aspect of forming a new identity which was of
interest to the participants was a Jewish identity: that is, seeking to understand
what it means to be Jewish in Israel. In this regard, the findings show that the
participants were confronted frequently with host residents’ hostile attitudes
that questioned the former Soviet Union immigrants’ affiliation with Judaism.
In these circumstances, the internet became the main source of information
on Jewish holidays and religious rituals – knowledge which further helped the
immigrant teenagers to cope with the hosts’ biased attitudes to decide which
aspects of Jewish identity they wished to adopt:
The Israelis don’t like Russian immigrants … My teacher only gives us books to
read by Jewish writers. I think that by Jews she means only Israelis, only those
who were born here … I use the internet a lot. You can learn on the internet
about [Jewish] customs, holidays, kosher laws and tradition … In my opinion
our teacher doesn’t even know what Tu-Beshvat is [Jewish holiday celebrating
the spring renewal of trees and nature]. Once she told us something, and I
remembered it very well, because my grandma explained it to me almost the
opposite way. So I checked on a website called ‘Rabbis’ and found out that my
grandma was right. I didn’t argue with the teacher. There is no point. I just
know that I am right. (Misha, 13, 1.5 years in Israel)
Sometimes I go to istoki.ru – it’s a Russian-language website about Judaism.
I like to read there about the Jewish family, about the roles of the woman
in the family, about [Jewish] lifestyle. It is interesting to me. But once I read
an interview with an important religious person in Israel. He said that the
New Media & Society
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14
immigrants from Russia are not real Jews; that we should not be accepted here.
Why does he get to determine who is a real Jew and who is not? My mother is
converting to Judaism. If she completes it, then I’ll become a Jew too. But how
does it make me be any better? (Masha, 11, 1.5 years in Israel)
A second central theme related to identity construction emerges from
the interviews with female teenagers who were involved in an intensive
search for renewed feminine identity, one aspect of which was related to
their need to reconstruct a self-image based on new standards of beauty. A
typical question asked by many female adolescents – ‘Am I attractive?’ – was
transformed into a more confusing one: ‘Am I perceived as attractive in my
new country?’ Such questions suggest that female teenagers felt a need to
reconstruct their feminine self-image – a task that turned out to be especially
difficult, given the immigrants’ lack of social experience with local residents.
Due to this sense of ambiguity, which often was combined with fear of direct
contact with local men, some participants were looking for answers on the
internet, as can be seen in this quote from Olga:
Israeli men embarrass me. I don’t understand how they react to me. Sometimes
they look like they are interested, but then it turns out that they didn’t really
mean it … I like to enter [Israeli] websites to meet someone. There are pictures
of women who want to meet men … who want to get married … I look there
and compare – am I pretty enough? (Olga, 17, 1.5 years in Israel)
The importance of appearance that fits into the local youth culture is
typical for this age group, as various forms of consumer culture, such as
clothes, hairstyles, accessories and the like have become central signifiers
of an in-group, disassociating the adolescent from younger children on
the one hand, and adults on the other, and marking a growing sense of
independence of taste and personality. This is clearly more so for girls, who
are socialized from birth to evaluate their self-worth as based primarily on
their attractiveness and individuality as related to sexuality and consumerism
(see discussion in Mazzarella and Pecora, 2007).
Finally, these findings demonstrate that use of the internet for role-playing
and identity experimentation, which it was expected to find on the basis
of some previous studies of non-migrant adolescents cited above, was not
evident in the data. Thus, the findings reinforce the suggestion that the
internet is used more commonly for strengthening real-life relationships than
for inventing virtual ones. It could be even more prominent in the case of
immigrant youngsters, who are involved in a demanding process of new
identity construction in the offline reality, and who hold on to those
identity components that are most important to them, while searching the
web for answers to real existential problems rather than experimenting with
invented ones.
Elias & Lemish: Spinning the web of identity
15
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
This study contributes to the existing literature on the roles fulfilled by the
media for migrant populations (see e.g. Elias, 2008; Georgiou, 2006a; Kim,
2001) by highlighting the dominance of the internet in the lives of immigrant
adolescents. The study found that due to its unique characteristics, such as
cultural and linguistic diversity, accessibility, interactivity and anonymity,
the internet provides young immigrants with valuable cultural, social and
emotional resources for personal growth and empowerment, and develops
and strengthens many aspects of their evolving identity in a critical period of
initial settling down, when their life circumstances place them at the major
material and social disadvantages typical of immigration.
First, the findings demonstrate that most of the participants shared a deep
sense of loss and expressed intense feelings of longing for Russia. The internet
allows them to find and to reinvent their own ‘Russia’, since they can preserve
those parts of their homeland that they miss most while being in full control
of the frequency and intensity of their relationships with its virtual forms (e.g.
youth portals, institutional websites, photography collections, etc.).
Moreover, it should be emphasized that immigration and the initial stages
of cultural adaptation are among the most vulnerable of human situations
that may provoke a deep sense of insecurity. In contrast, local residents
are perceived by the immigrants to be more successful and powerful. The
findings suggest that the internet serves as a cultural resource that facilitates
‘pro-Russian’ pride (be it a nostalgic view of the hometown or a desire for a
more elegant style of dress), thus raising the immigrant teenagers’ self-esteem.
This pride is reinforced also through use of Russian-language websites that
provide the young immigrants with valuable resources for maintaining and
cultivating their personal abilities and hobbies.
These findings are much in line with contemporary discourse on the
diasporic identity cited above. While this discourse has emphasized the sense
of loss and separation from home and original identity typical of the diasporic
condition, it has come to recognize also that there is a celebration of the
loss of such fixed concepts. Explained in terms of a postmodern experience
of diaspora in which homeland and identity have become fluid, this shift
is indicative of the new possibilities of identity formation and notions of
belonging that emerge in this process today.
Furthermore, the study shows that the internet offers accessible opportunities
for interpersonal interactions with co-ethnic peers, many of whom are going
through the same problems of adjustment to a new culture. As a result, the
internet not only helps them to cope with the loneliness typical of the first
period following immigration, but also contributes to the development of
virtual support networks of immigrant youngsters that assist them to confront
the two major challenges in their lives – adolescence and relocation.
New Media & Society
11(4)
16
Alongside establishing meaningful contact with their homeland and co-
ethnics, the internet was used in order to learn about the host society and
to create friendships with local peers. Here it should be emphasized that the
participants distinguished between two kinds of Israel: the real and the virtual.
While ‘real’ Israel was perceived as hostile and frightening, virtual Israel
(e.g. forums, online newspapers, official websites for immigrants, portals of
popular culture, etc.) was perceived as an attractive and safe place with which
the newcomers could identify more easily. Thus, virtual Israel served the
immigrant teens as a kind of ‘peephole’ as well as ‘fitting room’. It allowed
them to examine life in Israel safely, unnoticed as ‘a fly on the wall’, and to
try on new roles and identities while preparing for and reflecting on direct
encounters with offline Israeli reality.
Moreover, the participants had much more trust in Israeli websites and were
more willing to adopt the new values and codes of behavior suggested there
than by Israeli peers or teachers. Therefore, it appears that in comparison with
local residents, the internet was much more efficient in providing immigrant
youngsters with a positive referent group. In so doing, the internet facilitated
their initial socialization, helping them find their own distinct way into a
labyrinth of local culture and lifestyle and so to construct their new cultural
identity. Similarly, it is not surprising that participants’ first meaningful
contact with the local teenagers took place in chat and discussion groups,
and these experiences were described in much more positive terms than
their communication with ‘flesh and blood’ Israeli youngsters. This finding
is in line with the growing research literature on the social and psychological
implications of web-based communication, suggesting that often the internet
is used as a forum for expanding social networks and consequently enhancing
the chance for self-confidence, social abilities and emotional support by people
who are socially anxious (see e.g. Amichai-Hamburger and Furnham, 2007;
Campbell et al., 2006; McKenna and Bargh, 2000).
In summary, the internet seems to be playing a central role in the hybrid
identity construction of immigrant youth, since it is able to support several
identities at once: it allows the concrete body to live in multiple cultures at
the same time, to balance them one against the other, and to create individual
combinations of their competing and complementary Russian–Israeli
ingredients. Moreover, ‘safety’ is a key concept in this analysis, since the
internet offers the safe and trustworthy information so crucial for cultural
integration, a safe means to interact with local peers, a safe network of
transnational social support and a safe arena for practicsing the newly-acquired
identities.
In contrast to popular discourse suggesting that the internet serves
adolescents mainly as a ‘playground’ for adventures, pleasurable
experimentation and risk-taking (see for example critical discussion by
Elias & Lemish: Spinning the web of identity
17
Livingstone, 2007), it would seem that the internet serves as a ‘safe ground’
for immigrant youth. Perhaps in a life so shuttered by uncertainties, the
internet becomes an anchor of stability. As Bharat et al. (2004) have
suggested, the internet has the potential to advance empowerment, especially
for those on the margins of society. Thus, the present study has relevance
for many other cultural contexts where there is a need for the less privileged
members of society to overcome social, cultural, economic and digital
divides . In the words of 16-year old Jenia: ‘It is outstanding that we have the
internet. Thanks to whoever created it – it helps me survive.’
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Israel Foundation Trustees for their generous support
of this study and Natalia Khvorostianov for her valuable help with data collection.
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NELLY ELIAS is Lecturer at the Department of Communication Studies, Ben-Gurion University
of the Negev. She specializes in audience studies of immigrants and their children. She has
various academic publications in the field of mass media and immigrants integration, including
Coming Home: Media and Returning Diaspora in Israel and Germany
(State University of New
York Press, 2008) and peer-reviewed articles in journals.
Address
: Department of Communication Studies, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, PO Box.
653, Beer-Sheva, Israel. [email: enelly@bgu.ac.il]
DAFNA LEMISH is Professor of Communication at Tel Aviv University and founding editor of the
Journal of Children and Media
. Her research and teaching interests include children, media
and leisure as well as media representations of gender. Her recent books include
The Wonder
Phone in the Land of Miracles: Mobile Telephony in Israel
(with Akiba Cohen and Amit Schejter,
Hampton Press, 2008),
Children and Television: A Global Perspective
(Blackwell, 2007),
Children and Media at Times of Conflict and War
(co-edited with Maya Götz and Cynthia Carter,
Hampton Press, 2007) and
Media and the Make-believe Worlds of Children: When Harry Potter
Meets Pokémon in Disneyland
(with Maya Götz, Amy Aidman and Hyesung Moon, Lawrence
Erlbaum, 2005).
Address
: Department of Communication, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel.
[email: lemish@post.tau.ac.il]
