YEARNING FI YAAD: Cultural Codes, Emotional Discourse, and Digital Nationalism in the Jamaican Diaspora

Abstract

Everyone wants to belong somewhere. The desire to belong is the foundation of communities, physical or digital. As Jamaicans migrate, they might feel their sense of belonging is threatened due to the distance between them and Yaad. However, digital communities can rectify this distance. This thesis investigates how college-aged yaadies living in the United States use the Jamaican digital diaspora to do just that. I argue that the Jamaican digital diaspora is a place for transmitting shared cultural codes, evoking diasporic emotions, and creating discourse, with the backdrop of national pride. The Jamaican digital diaspora is an accessible and participatory space that addresses college-aged yaadies needing to belong and longing for Yaad. While popular conversations of TikTok frame it as a place of mindless scrolling or a security concern, this thesis argues that it provides a space where college-age Jamaicans can negotiate their relationship with home while abroad. The cultural production in the Jamaican digital diaspora is a comedic retelling of the complex, sometimes contradicting emotions that shape the yaadie experience.