Instagram and the Eritrean National Imaginary: Affective Uses of Independent Community Archives

My project examines the emergence of grassroots archival initiatives on Instagram and explores the manifold ways diasporic identities are being mediated and negotiated through cyberspatial publics. I track how users activate independent archives on social media networks such as Instagram to forge an Eritrean national imagination. Eritreans in the diaspora are using the photo-sharing platform to their advantage, transforming themselves from passive consumers of archival activity into active agents behind public history-making through participatory archives. Grounded in an emic approach, I use @Eri.treanArchives an Eritrean-based independent archive as a field site in which I conduct virtual ethnographic work. I analyze posts and responses to them, explore concepts of extraterritorialism, and identify collaborative approaches and effective uses of submissions. In so doing, I examine how collective memory is built and the nostalgia for an imagined past, that both constitute or produce an Eritrean diasporic identity, but also reveal political tensions. In addition, I observe how Eritrean national identity is articulated through various postings that highlight anti-colonial confrontation, the steadfastness of the Eritrean people, and a multicultural heritage. Eritrean national identity, as formulated by the E.P.L.F. is a multiethnic, multifaith African political community founded upon globalist humanist understanding and shared opposition to imperialism (Serequeberhan 1989). Through investigation of archival spaces such as @Eri.treanArchives, I identify how values and ideals within the independence struggle are reproduced through the content of the account, and how @Eri.treanArchives attempts to make unity in political and ethnic diversity.