Refugee resettlement, social media and the social organization of difference

Bibliographic Data

ID4262853
AuthorsJulia Marlowe (0000-0001-7940-024X, Department of Counselling, Human Services and Social Work, Faculty of Education The University of Auckland Private Bag 92601 Auckland 1150 New Zealand, corresponding author), Jay Marlowe
Year2020
Volume20
Issue2
Pages274-291
Publication date2020-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGlobal Networks (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1470-2266 • E-ISSN: 1471-0374
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/glob.12233
OpenAlexW2937419449
LanguageEN
Citations received18
References cited30

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

Business · Futures contract · Normative · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Refugee · Social integration · Social media · Sociology · Gender Studies · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Health and Trauma · Migration, Refugees, and Integration