Platformed Chineseness: Algorithmic Re-embeddedness and Identity Scripts among Chinese Diaspora in Europe

• In Event: Soft Power, Hard Borders: The Geopolitics of Diaspora Engagement

Abstract

Recent scholarship on the "platformization of the family" largely focuses on geographically stable Western households. This study extends this research agenda to the Chinese diaspora in non-English speaking Europe. For these first-generation immigrants (G1) and their adult children (G2), platforms like WeChat and Xiaohongshu are not just social tools. They operate as infrastructural prerequisites for survival.

To understand this dependency, this paper introduces the concept of "Algorithmic Re-embeddedness." Through digital ethnography, including crossed biographical interviews and "scroll-along" sessions with 15 to 20 families, this research investigates how platforms actively mediate diasporic belonging.

Preliminary findings suggest that platforms function as both a digital sanctuary and a watchtower. While they alleviate social marginalization, algorithms actively disrupt the historical temporality of G1, forcing a continuous recalibration of their political habitus. Concurrently, algorithms impose commodified identity scripts upon G2. In response, G2 cultivates "Algorithmic Family Talk." They use depoliticized platform content, such as food or aesthetic trends, as micro-tactics to navigate intergenerational tension and reclaim their definitional sovereignty over "Digital Chineseness."

Ultimately, this study challenges the view of platforms as neutral connection tools. It demonstrates that diasporic belonging is an actively architected and disciplined product of the platformized family.

Author

• Chao YANG, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University