Migrants as Nationalists or Long Distance Critics: The Case of Nigerian Diaspora Members Perception of Homeland

Abstract

This paper examines the Nigerian Diaspora members’ engagement with Nigeria, as a nation-state. The paper unearths the ambiguous processes that sometimes reveal nationalism in a transnational context, while in the process of communicating with origin. Other times, the revelations can possibly be a mitigation of longing mixed with anger. The indicated nationalism could be fastidious observations from the distance, which defies attachment. The complex relationship between diaspora and the homeland, raises questions regarding whether the migrants are long distance critics or long distance nationalists. Or could it be that they are simply enveloped in delusions about an ideal, unhelpful for the origin, or that they mitigate nostalgia through online exchanges? The paper examines these questions, concluding that some evidence exist to proof the posers.