Inhabitants of a national ‘walled garden’: Everyday digital nationalism in China
Article / Journal
Author(s) / editor(s):
Michael Skey
,
Ruoning Chen
,
Sabina Mihelj
Year: 2025
Language(s): English
Abstract:
Digital media have played a significant role in the rise of nationalism in recent years. Existing research, however, tends to
focus on more explicit or passionate expressions of nationalist feelings online. In contrast, there has been very little work on
the relationship between everyday digital practices and the (re)production of national frameworks among “ordinary” citizens.
To address this lacuna, this study develops a novel theoretical framework that employs insights from studies of everyday
habits, temporal rhythms and “common-sense” knowledge. This framework is used to examine the everyday digital practices
of ordinary people in China drawing on data from media diaries and semi-structured interviews with 45 participants. The
Chinese digital infrastructure is particularly conducive to the formation of distinct national digital habits, due to its reliance
on domestic platforms and the presence of the “Great Firewall” that limits access to foreign platforms. Yet, as our analysis
shows, the nationalizing effects of this digital infrastructure requires “buy-in” from citizens. We first investigate how and why
people’s digital activities tend to be confined to the national “walled garden” of Chinese platforms. Second, we highlight the
role of WeChat as the primary node in China’s digital ecosystem and demonstrate how ordinary citizens use it, in a largely
taken-for-granted manner, to sustain a plethora of nationally bounded relationships and activities. Finally, we examine the
tiny number of participants that move beyond this ecosystem and their motivations for both venturing out and returning
“home.”
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/20563051251342224
Post created by: Lymor Wolf Goldstein