Transnational connectivity and the affective paradoxes of digital care labour

Exploring how young refugees technologically mediate co-presence

Bibliographic Data

ID11487205
AuthorsKoen Leurs (0000-0003-4765-6464, Utrecht University, the Netherlands, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume34
Issue6
Pages641-649
Publication date2019-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Communication (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0267-3231 • E-ISSN: 1460-3705
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0267323119886166
OpenAlexW2985538073
LanguageEN
Citations received28
References cited24

Digital migration scholarship has foregrounded how migrants (refugees, forced migrants, expatriates among others) use smartphones and social media to technologically mediate co-presence with loved ones and friends abroad. Aural, visual and haptic affordances give shape to feelings of co-presence, triggering various affects. Affectivity refers here to bodily sensations like joy which can be circulated among migrant families and friendship groups, through digital networks. Paradoxically, maintaining bonds as well as keeping face can be felt as emotionally taxing, triggering negative affective intensities such as fear, anxiety, shame and guilt. Still, the young refugees I have interviewed feel strongly compelled to transnationally connect because they strongly care. Therefore, this research note proposes the notion of digital care labour to attend to the emotional, digital labour involved in maintaining transnational connections between people living at distance, in starkly diverging material conditions

Affordance · Cognitive psychology · Feeling · Friendship · Political science · Refugee · Scholarship · Shame · Sociology · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Emotional Labor in Professions · Psychology · Social Psychology · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics

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