Global Networks
2019

Refugee resettlement, social media and the social organization of difference (Article) (Open Access)

Marlowe J.*
  • a Department of Counselling, Human Services and Social Work, Faculty of Education, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92601, Auckland, 1150, New Zealand

Abstract

Social media platforms allow refugees separated by distance to share information, provide support and exchange resources across borders. This connection has the potential to transform resettlement experiences as people maintain significant and ongoing relationships with transnational networks. Yet, since refugee resettlement programmes generally only scale up to the national imagination, integration remains a normative framework in most policy spheres. This article presents a 12-month digital ethnography of 15 refugees settled in New Zealand with a view to examining their transnational practices of social media and its influence on integration and belonging. Drawing on a conceptual framework based on the social organization of difference, it contains a discussion on how online global networks increasingly inform the domains of encounters, representations and configurations. The role of social media for refugee resettlement futures and its implications for integration at times of rapid political, technological and social change concludes the article. © 2019 The Author. Global Networks published by Global Networks Partnership and John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Author Keywords

resettlement Integration Social media Transnationalism Refugees Information communication technologies

Index Keywords

Information communication technology Transnationalism resettlement integration Social networking (online) Refugees social media Regional planning

Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85064693466&doi=10.1111%2fglob.12233&partnerID=40&md5=6cf05436de171d2e5867d4759c41781e

DOI: 10.1111/glob.12233
ISSN: 14702266
Cited by: 2
Original Language: English