Belonging In the Global Space: Digital Nomads and Diaspora Identity

The intersection of diaspora communities, digital nomads, and the formation of glocal identities represents a compelling dimension of contemporary migration studies. This panel examines the complex tensions between belonging, mobility, and globalization, focusing on how highly mobile individuals negotiate connections to both local and global spheres. Despite living and working across borders, digital nomads and other transnational professionals often maintain strong emotional, cultural, and social ties to their ancestral or home countries. Many continue to cultivate aspirations of return, whether temporary, permanent, or symbolic, while actively engaging with their places of origin from afar.

These enduring attachments frequently inspire efforts to contribute to homeland development through the transfer of knowledge, professional expertise, networks, and resources. In turn, such practices shape both individual identities and the transnational communities that emerge within global spaces. By exploring how local affiliations are sustained and reimagined under conditions of increased mobility, the panel highlights the dynamic interplay between rootedness and cosmopolitanism. Drawing on comparative perspectives from Asia, Europe, and North America, the panel will identify key similarities and differences in the ways global and local relationships are experienced, negotiated, and transformed.