Migration and Diaspora in the Age of Information and Communication Technologies (original) (raw)
Related papers
ICT,, Migrant Networks and Transnational Identity
The global expansion of Infromation-Communication-Technology (ICT) widens access to information, enhances communication capacity, and is expected to promote social inclusion and facilitate democratic participation. Among the most influential factors facilitating these phenomena is the effect of glocalization on languages in cyberspace. Global migration is turning many societies into culturally diverse societies, as immigants settle down and their descendants become ethnic minorities in their host country. Migrants often leave behind not only physical capital but also much of their social capital. ICT – both global and glocal - plays a major role in nurturing "virtual" social capital. Global social networking sites encourage the development of bridging social capital, while local immigrant digital networks enable them to develop bonding social capital in their new country and transnational networks enable them to maintain some of their former bonding social capital in their country of origin. The traditional image of the uprooted immigrant is being replaced by the image of a connected immigrant. Today's migrants are the actors of a culture of bonds, which they maintain even as they move about. This culture of bonds became visible and highly dynamic since migrants began using ICT massively. It is more and more common for migrants to maintain remote relations typical of relations of proximity and to activate them on a daily basis. From a Diaspora perspective, immigrants are also emigrants. ICT enables them to engage in transnational connections and maintain transnational and/or pluricultural identities. Diaspora as an analytic term is relevant for investigations of media practices among contemporary immigrants, leaving room for questions of multiple belonging with implications for everyday life. In recent years, especially with the advent Digital Broadcasting Satellite (DBS) technology, transnational media has become central in the consumption of news by immigrant populations, who tend to seek news very broadly. Extensive news media consumption, desire for more international news than found in the national television channels, and a critical stance towards the news from these channels, are also part of the picture. Temporary and permanent immigrants use the internet as a "bridgespace"', a virtual space that supports flows of people, goods, capital and ideas between the country of origin and the country of destination. 'Matrimonial' sites are but one example. Migrant networks play important roles for immigrants and their descendants. Ethnic minority communities develop online portals in which major dilemmas emerge, such as essentialism vs. fluidity of identities; universalism vs particularism; or recognition vs redistribution. Internet discussion forums are popular online meeting places for diaspora people. Here they are articulating race and culture in the public cyberspaces. One of the recurring topics in these discussions is the nature of their identity and how this relates to living overseas. Participants exchange personal experiences, political opinions, emotional and intellectual expectations about the outer and inner limits of identity and/or culture in their everyday lives. On the Web, 2nd generation immigrant youths orient themselves to the country where they live (bridging between cultures) as well as to their parents' country of origin (bonding of social capital).
Diaspora/migration (social media and politics)
Sage Encyclopedia of Social Media and Politics , 2014
Social media provide a particularly fascinating entry-point to explore diasporas because diaspora and digital communication platforms are both characterized by paradoxical processes of space and time compression. The links between the two processes have only received increased attention during the last few years, although the current total number of transnational migrants would amount to a country that would rank among the first ten in size globally. Diasporas online raise questions about the core dynamics of cultural globalization spurred by the developing World Wide Web and transnational migration flows: do they ultimately globally connect or divide humans; enable opinion formation, voice, mobilization and protest or new forms of surveillance and censorship; homogenize and balkanize the Internet or promote diversity; promote democratization or reinstall hierarchies? Evidence for all these processes is emerging and movements in both directions have been observed (Bernal, 2010). This article first provides a definition of the notion of diaspora and outlines historical developments in transnational media use of migrants predating the contemporary use of social media. Subsequently, examples and political implications of social media use of diasporic and migrant populations are charted.
Transnational Migration and Sociocultural practices : mapping the use of ICTs
Communication & Social Change, 2015
The following paper intends to present the first results of the research Migration and Intercultural Communication: transnational flows, local interferences and the use of ICTs. One of the aims of this research is to study the transnational sociocultural practices through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) of the migrants in the Federal District of Brazil. This research is based on the following questions: can we qualify the recent migration flows to Brazil as a transnational phenomenon? If yes, what is the role of the ICTs in the information exchange between migrants ? How do these technologies interfere and re-create sociocultural practices during the migrant's process of belonging ? We wish to understand how is it that ICTs make it possible for a twofold local experience: that of the daily life of those who stayed and that of the living experience of those who moved.
This special issue on 'Return to Cyberia' is an attempt to evaluate the contemporary moment of new cultural and social forms influenced by rapidly evolving technologies in their first critical decade. It contains five case studies that highlight the range of transnational experiences -from temporary migrants and refugees to the second generation. The contributors address how and why transnational populations use particular communication technologies and the ways in which these practices are influenced by factors such as generation, history of settlement and dispersal, cultural values, class and access. In addition to addressing a wide variety of study populations, the case studies highlight the variety of available ICTs including email and the Internet, teleconferencing, telephones and mobile phones. Collectively, the articles address issues such as geographic identity and connectivity, different use patterns based on gender and generation, authenticity and representation on the Internet, methodology and the intricacies of interpersonal dynamics across transnational social fields.
Migration in the internet age - The 21st century when refugees went online
This paper provides a new take on how to explain irregular migration. The results of this study takes a leap forward in scientific thinking of how large irregular migration flows can be understood in a modern age where migrants are using internet technology to their advantage. By using existing migration theory and big data search patterns from google a completely new way of understanding irregular migration is developed. This longitudinal quantitative cross-country study gives new analytical insight in how irregular migration can be explained by analysing potential and actual migrant’s internet behaviour. This paper is the first of its kind to use Google search patterns as a determinant for where and when migrants journey by combining it with time series of number of asylum seekers yielding a successful way to predict large irregular migration. Data from eight different receiving countries and Europe as whole is used in combination with data from two transit countries and five sender countries. It’s argued that to understand the ‘Age of migration’ we must see how it relates to the ‘Information age’ and that these two global phenomena must be seen in connection and not as separate from each other if we are to understand modern migration.
The use of ICT in contemporary mixed migration flows to Europe
The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and social media became a key characteristic of mixed migration flows to Europe in 2015 and 2016. Both before but increasingly also during migration, migrants and refugees rely on their smartphones and social media such as Facebook, Twitter and applications such as WhatsApp, Skype, Viber and Google Maps, to get information on routes and intended countries of destination, to foster contact between smugglers and brokers or to reach out to others when in distress. Drawing on recent findings and reports, this paper proposes a typology of ways in which ICTs and social media are used by migrants and refugees before and especially during irregular migration. This series produced by RMMS showcases key issues in mixed migration, highlights new research and discusses emerging trends.
Doing Digital Migration Studies: Methodological Considerations for an Emerging Research Focus
Qualitative Research in European Migration Studies , 2018
This chapter offers reflection on doing digital migration studies. Digital migration studies is an emerging interdisciplinary field focussed on studying migration in, through and by means of the internet. As the so-called European refugee crisis demonstrates, the scale, intensities and types of transnational migration and digital networking have drastically changed in recent years. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have fundamentally transformed migration processes and vice versa. Top-down management of migration flows and border control is increasingly dependent on digital technologies and datafication, while from the bottom-up migrants use smart phones and apps to access information, maintain transnational relations, establish local connections and send remittances. In the first half of the chapter, drawing on (Candidatu et al., 2018) we distinguish between three paradigms of digital migration studies: (1) migrants in cyberspace; (2) everyday digital migrant life; (3) migrants as data. In the second half of the chapter, we offer the methodological research principles of relationality, adaptability and ethics-of-care to operationalize digital migration studies with a commitment to social justice. Challenging unjust power relations is important both when studying vulnerable groups as well as studying elites. The many experiences, obstacles and opportunities we found in the literature reveal that the future of digital migration studies lies at the intersection of big and small data, there is great urgency in triangulating quantified patterns with in-depth narrative accounts and situated experiences.
(2012) Homeland Connections : E-Diasporas Atlas / A Century of Transnationalism
This conference proposes a novel collaboration between two international research networks in migration studies. The Century of Transnationalism panels explore long-term patterns in order to understand the contribution and evolution of migrants' transnational connections. The E-Diasporas panels present the results of the "E-diasporas Atlas" ANR Content project, studying diasporas as they appear via the Web. We thus bring together social scientists (sociologists, historians, anthropologists, geographers…) and computer scientists, who are building today's archives. Jointly, we seek to understand how migrants keep their homeland connections, from letters in the past to the use of the Web today.