The Romanian diaspora: Media use and dual identity

In the transition from communism to democracy, the Romanian nation battled corruption, de-industrialisation, and inflation upwards of 200%. In such dire living conditions, 4 million people were lost to westward emigration. The Romanian exodus was exacerbated in 2007 when Romania joined the European Union, and thus Romanians gained the right to work anywhere in the European Union. Better work opportunities were found, and Romanians integrated well: two million live in Italy, one million in Spain, and the rest primarily in the United Kingdom and Germany. Migration of such dimensions is bound to affect the family structure, the culture, the economy, and education, to say the least. In this context, the present research tackles the following research question: how does the Romanian diaspora construct their identity and belonging to the national culture in and through media? The main theory guiding the research is Anderson’s (1983) imagined communities, with media use in transnational communities as theoretical background, among others. The methodology is qualitative in nature, with in-depth interviews as data collection method. Italy was chosen as country of residence for the sample because it hosts the biggest community of Romanians and has been doing so for the longest time compared to other countries that host Romanian communities. There are eleven interviews with members of the Romanian diaspora of Italy. The interviews are semi-structured discussions about migration experiences, media habits, and integration in the host country. The sample is composed of people who emigrated for labour-related reasons and who have been living in Italy for one to nineteen years. The interview data was transcribed and coded using thematic analysis. The results of each theme mirrored a Romanian identity constantly under negotiation, with varying degrees in each participant. Lengthy negative media coverage of the Romanian diaspora led to an underlying awareness that life abroad is difficult and that co-nationals generally struggle, although there is a trend of improvement on the fairness of representation. Furthermore, social media is an essential tool of the migrant, reflecting findings of other academic works. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Romanian media consumption is found to be a reflection of Romanian identity, thus mirroring but not driving one’s cultural closeness. Romanians abroad access plenty of Romanian media resources, especially at the beginning of their migration experience, with forums and online communities as staples of the economic migrant’s life. They find and help each other via connections made online. In terms of mass media, television habits are found to be determined by family situation: Romanians who live with other Romanians have a stronger tendency to watch Romanian content, whereas Romanians who live with Italian partners are instead more likely to follow Romanian content on their mobile devices for ease of access. Finally, there was a general sense of contentment regarding integration and wellbeing in Italy, the host country, with people feeling lucky to have succeeded in migrating.