Delayed digital reconnection

While many studies have examined migrants’ use of social media, few have focused on delayed digital reconnection. This article explores that aspect, by examining how Russian-speaking Jews of the last Soviet generation who settled in France in the 1990s have belatedly rebuilt their transnational ties via Facebook (FB). The data is based on a longitudinal digital ethnography (30 main FB accounts and 67 linked accounts) combined with 42 interviews with members of this population and their transnational families. The study analyses the socio-technical processes of diasporic identity reconstruction: the linguistic shift from French to Russian on FB, digital kinkeeping practices carried out primarily by women, and transnational engagements linked to the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel. The aim is to view this reconnection as a unique process of online community reconstruction, and thus to understand its specific mechanisms, the gendered dynamics of maintaining transnational ties, and the conditions under which a fragile yet cohesive online diaspora emerges.