Diasporic Epistemologies in Cuban Independent Journalism

This article examines how digital diasporic journalism changes epistemic practices in the Cuban context. The last decade has seen a practical transnationalization of digitally native independent news sites in Cuba in light of two phenomena: the emigration/forced exile of many young journalists and the affordances of digital technologies, making it possible for these journalists to continue reporting despite their spatial dispersion abroad. How are digital and diasporic ways of knowing changing Cuban journalists’ epistemic practices? By taking a relational approach, we explore digital diasporas as a site of connectivity co-inhabited by multiple and hybrid traveling imaginaries. The article is based on 44 interviews with Cuban independent journalists, which are analyzed through postfoundational discourse analysis (PDA) and situational mapping. The data reveals three important epistemological cleavages that shape digital diasporic journalists’ access to knowledge. These are (1) place as an epistemic category, (2) the epistemic status they confer on themselves and other social actors, and (3) the autonomy they claim when constructing clear boundaries between journalism, activism, and propaganda.