How People Stay In Touch?

I frequently login to my Facebook account to see what is happening in different Latin American groups and to check my messages. ‘Dear all! […] I’m writing because I am coming to live in Edinburgh with my family. I need to know how things work relating to schools and nurseries. Do you have to pay or are they for free?’, someone posts on the ‘Chileans in Edinburgh’ page. Another time one of my Mexican friends on Facebook writes on his wall: ‘We will see what can be done with my sleep’. He has problems with insomnia and has just been to the Royal Infirmary Hospital. I have also just been invited to Lenny’s secret baby shower.

Facebook is a meeting place for Latin Americans in Edinburgh where there are pages for ‘Chileans in Edinburgh’, ‘Venezuelans in Scotland’, ‘Colombians in Scotland’, ‘Mexicans in Edinburgh’, ‘Peruvians in Edinburgh’; as well as the universities’ societies of, for instance, ‘Latin Americans’. Facebook is the means of communication for Latin Americans who have met before and who want to maintain this contact. However it is also a medium across which many people have the opportunity to meet other Latin Americans whom they do not know personally (see Lenhart 2009). The location the person writes from does not restrict them from becoming members of the Latin American ‘community’ in Edinburgh before coming to Edinburgh, however it is reinforced through face-to-face contact between some Latin Americans, at some stage of their stay in Edinburgh. Another benefit is that those who leave Edinburgh can maintain their belonging to the ‘community’. Facebook is “a positive transformation and expansion of spacetime as a social medium” (Miller 2011: 209). I have seen how Latin Americans who live in Edinburgh take part in local conversations in their countries of origin, while some Latin Americans who live outside Edinburgh are active in conversations about life in Edinburgh. Within the aforementioned groups on Facebook people talk about what is happening in their countries of origin and in the UK. They discuss politics, music and daily-life subjects in Edinburgh such as where to buy a certain products, where to go out, what services to use and what to do in case of any problems. Also people who are about to come to Edinburgh to work or study contact various groups on Facebook and pose questions about the ‘life’ in Edinburgh,

about recommendations on how to rent a flat, which part of Edinburgh to rent it in, what they need to bring to Edinburgh and what documents they should bring with them. Besides this, people who are considering coming to Edinburgh ask about the quality of life in Edinburgh, about visa requirements and availability of jobs. Communication via Facebook is available immediately and it does not take a long time for the recipient to receive a message, as it used to be with letters, some Latin Americans commented. However, as Carolina told me, because there is a time zone difference between Edinburgh and Latin American countries, it is not always easy to communicate immediately with distantly located family and friends - as it can be night- time in their countries and they might be sleeping. In this chapter I look at how Latin American identity is strengthened through the use of new media technologies, what their role is in the daily life of different Latin Americans, and how the use of social media enables them to feel like an individual.

Some Latin Americans who had meet online on Facebook to arrange a face-to-face meeting. Others may meet coincidentally by attending the same events organised by one of the aforementioned societies in Edinburgh or through friends they have in common. Gershon (2010) observed that the students she interviewed did not perceive Facebook, video chats or instant messaging as virtual. “These media are not cyberrealms distinct from other interactions, but rather Facebook communication is inextricably intertwined with every other way they communicate” (ibid.: 13-14). Facebook is one of the many ways of communicating with others. Deciding to communicate on Facebook or via instant messaging is not seen as a choice between “real” or “virtual” means of communication but “rather as a choice between Facebook, phone, e-mail, instant message, or in-person communication” (ibid.: 14). Gershon (2008) carried out research at her home institution, Indiana University, mainly among US undergraduates. She writes that students are starting to consider face-to-face communication just one of the media that one can choose when wanting to interact (Gershon 2008: 14). Likewise Latin Americans in Edinburgh consider face-to-face as well as technological communication such as Facebook the media that they can choose to use when interacting with their friends and family. They just decide on the medium that is suitable for a particular type of communication, the message they want to deliver, and the emotions they want to show.

For Eduardo, a student at the University of Edinburgh, apart from Skype conversations with his family members, he substitutes the absence of his family with his flatmates. He has created strong bonds with his friends in Edinburgh. ‘Because I share a flat with other Mexicans I have my ‘world’ reproduced here, along with the Mexican food and the social interaction and it is easier for me to be away from my family back in Mexico’, Eduardo told me. What is more, because he spends this time with people from his own country, when he goes out or is at university, he told me, he is very open and has friends and colleagues from lots of different countries.

Carter (2005: 164) in her study of “Cybercity” explored how people who use this virtual space extend the “traditional” concept of social relationships. They move beyond only making and sustaining friendships at work or home, and treat the use of virtual spaces as means for meeting friends in a way that is integral with their everyday lives. These friendships usually move to face-to-face contact, while people extend “their webs of personal relationships to include cyberspace” they make it no more detached from their “real” world but where these relationships are “becoming embedded in everyday life” (ibid.: 164). The groups with the expressions “in Edinburgh”, “in Scotland” along with for instance “Latin Americans” or “Peruanos” in their names on Facebook are part of the Latin American ‘community’ in Edinburgh. The distinction between ‘virtual’ and ‘real’ cannot be made, as all the personal relationships are ‘real’. An “online” side of the Latin American ‘community’ is an integral part of the ‘community’. The online communication comprises of different media such as for instance Facebook, instant messages, Skype and WhatsApp that one consciously chooses when wanting to interact with others.

Contacting people through Facebook helped me meet more members of the Latin American ‘community’ in Edinburgh, some of whom invited me to their homes and later on, knowing about my project, to their birthday parties or other celebrations. Otherwise, it would have been very difficult to meet Latin Americans from different countries and walks of life, and of different ages and interests, as not all Latin Americans visit the same places and participate in the same events. Interestingly many people from different Latin American countries are active members on Facebook of

various Latin American groups. They do not limit themselves to contact only members of a group from their own country of origin. Therefore I argue that the use of Facebook allows one to surpass one’s national boundaries.

Figure 6.1 Screenshot of some of the events I attended and was invited to them through Facebook

Figure 6.3 Screenshot of some of the events I attended and was invited to them through Facebook