Digital Migration

Digital Migration explores the complex relationship between digital technology and migration, examining the power relations of digital infrastructures, migrant connections, digital representations, and the affect and emotion of digital migration. It challenges us to imagine more just alternatives and raises funds for the Alarm Phone, a hotline for boatpeople in distress.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 29 May 2023
Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd

A revelation for digital researchers and a provocation for migration scholars, this groundbreaking book offers an insightful, inspiring, and inviting way of making sense of the complexities of the digital age without losing hope of changing things.

Nishant Shah, Chinese University of Hong Kong, praises it as a "must-read for everyone who is concerned with questions of human mobility, media and communications, and the digital border." Myria Georgiou, LSE, adds that it is a "much-needed addition to scholarship on mobility, technology, and migration," predicting that it will become a "touchstone text."

In contemporary discussions on migration, digital technology is often seen as a "smart" disruptive tool, bringing efficiencies to management and safety to migrants. However, the reality is always more complex. This book is a comprehensive and impassioned account of the relationship between digital technology and migration.

Drawing from an interdisciplinary approach, Digital Migration explores a range of topics, including:

The power relations of digital infrastructures across migrant recruitment, transportation, and communication.

Migrant connections and the use of digital devices, platforms, and networks.

Dominant digital representations of migrants and how they are resisted.

The affect and emotion of digital migration, from digital intimacy to transnational family life.

How histories of pre and early-digital migration help us situate and rethink contemporary research.

The realities of researching digital migration, including interviews with leading international researchers.

While this book offers a critical analysis of the challenges and complexities of the digital age, it also provides a sense of hope and possibility. It offers insights into the ways in which digital technologies can be used to empower migrants and promote their rights, as well as the ways in which they can be used to exploit and marginalize them.

Ultimately, Digital Migration is a valuable resource for scholars, policymakers, and activists working to understand and address the challenges and opportunities of the digital age in the context of migration. It is a testament to the power of interdisciplinary research and the importance of taking a holistic approach to understanding the complex relationship between technology, migration, and society.

Weight: 414g
Dimension: 242 x 169 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781529706529