From risk to relational distance: Dis/connective identification in the Hong Kong digital diaspora

In this article, we introduce dis/connective identification to theorize how diasporic actors negotiate belonging, safety, and visibility through strategic forms of digital engagement and disengagement under conditions of transnational repression. Challenging dominant emphases on persistent connectivity in digital migration and diaspora studies, we conceptualize dis/connective identification as a process of modulating symbolic, social, and affective relational distances across hybrid media environments. Drawing on 13 in-depth interviews with organizers of the post-2019 Hong Kong digital diaspora, we identify three specific practices, namely moralizing platform use, calibrating political security and trust, and expressing affective belonging, with which diasporic actors navigate multifaceted uncertainties across contexts within a bounded, risk-aware community. Rather than treating disconnection as failure or absence, we argue that it should be understood as a mode of connective agency that varies in intensity, temporality, and visibility. Our study contributes to digital diaspora studies, disconnection studies, and connective action research by highlighting the relational and contingent nature of diasporic identification under specific sociotechnical conditions.