Migrants' digital practices of creativity and resistance

The papers will be presented by Silvia Almenara Niebla (Vrije University of Brussels) and Ester Serra Mingot ( Univeristy of Bielefeld), with comments by Luca Queirolo Palmas (University of Genoa) and debate open to the public.

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ABSTRACTS

Digital emotivescapes: mediating belonging among Sahrawi refugee diasporic women

Silvia Almenara Niebla - Vrije University of Brussels, Belgium

This presentation evaluates the concept of "emotivescapes " as a way to address the emotional digital processes of belonging among conflict-generated diasporas. It examines the empirical potential of the concept based on the Sahrawi refugee diaspora in Spain and Mauritania and its members' connection to their 'home camps' in Algeria. To this end, the presentation explores how the concept of home is re-signified by the material and symbolic conditions of living in exile. Focusing on digital media practices, the presentation addresses the circulation of belonging among Sahrawi women outside the refugee camps at the crossroads of intimate, communal and national spheres. Through an intersectional approach to gender roles, diasporic experience and media practice, this research aims to enrich emotional debates in digital migration studies.

The role of digital tools in transit migration research and migrants' strategies. The case of African migrants transiting Mexico

Ester Serra Mingot (University of Bielefeld, Germany)

Based on two complementary ethnographic research projects conducted with African transit migrants in Mexico between June 2021 and December 2022, this presentation addresses the role of digital tools from two different dimensions. On the one hand, as a tool for the researchers to follow up highly mobile populations across borders, and on the other hand, as a tool for the migrants themselves to access information and establish networks that facilitate their trajectories towards their desired destinations.

The international seminar cycle Migration in Digital Space: experiences, change and resistance aims at developing an interdisciplinary framework to analyse how migration is constructed, transformed and mapped by/within digital space, in order to expand our knowledge on its impact in both online and offline space. The seminar cycle intends to contribute to improving and fostering knowledge in regard to contemporary global challenges encompassing migration, forced displacement and refugee movement. Furthermore, it seeks to harmonize dialogue between the social sciences and digital technology fields, and move towards offering innovative contributions to public policy.

Organizing Committee:
Ana Raquel Matias, CIES-Iscte
Simone Castellani, University of Cadiz
Sofia Gaspar, CIES-Iscte
Thais França, CIES-Iscte