Maintenance of cultural identity through virtual social networking: the Indo people post diaspora

The current Indo population in the United States as well as in other nations consists of displaced people from Indonesia (former Dutch East Indies) who were forced to search for a new home. Today, the two largest populations of Indos reside in the Netherlands and the US. Indos in the US now span up to four generations. While the population is a model of successful assimilation, it has caused their culture to become diluted and on the verge of being forgotten. Interest in their heritage is acute among the second and third-generation Indos. They are also the generation most comfortable with the Internet and social networking. This thesis tests the hypothesis that the key to successful maintenance of the Indo culture in the US and by extension, in other nations, is by social networking via the Internet. Using virtual space to create situations of interaction in and out of physical space may be the most convenient way to protect, preserve and remind others of the Indo culture.