Nurturing a nation on the net: The case of Tamil Eelam

This study deals with the use of the Internet to construct national identity. It argues that the Internet is an ideal tool to instil and reinforce distinct political identities among ethnonational diasporas by both nation-states and yet-to-be nation-states, and draws attention to the need to study the discourse on the Internet with regard to construction of national identity. It uses the example of the struggle of the Sri Lankan Tamils for recognition as a nation-state to highlight the potential of the Internet to instil a sense of nationhood among widely dispersed members and mobilize them in the struggle for transformation into a nation-state.