Solidarity, Social Media, and the “Refugee Crisis”: Engagement Beyond Affect

The images of Alan Kurdi, a three-year-old who drowned in the Aegean Sea in 2015, and Omran Daqneesh, a five-year-old covered in dust and blood waiting shell-shocked in the back of an ambulance in 2016, both symbolize the horror and suffering endured by civilians throughout the “refugee crisis” in Europe and the civil war in Syria. Yet, the circulation of these images mobilized different outcomes. Kurdi’s image engendered solidarity that was supported by action, whereas Daqneesh’s image did not result in the same effect. This article reflects on the potential for solidarity of images circulating on social media by placing them in relation to the context in which they are embedded. The results of our study show that although shocking images can awaken compassion toward the oppressed, they do not necessarily translate into movements of solidarity, but can rather degenerate into ineffective forms of pity

Individual Survey - Moroccan-origin Community of Turin

The dataset (STATA format) of the individual survey conducted in Turi

Individual Survey - Moroccan-origin Community of Turin

The dataset (STATA format) of the individual survey conducted in Turi

Individual Survey - Moroccan-origin Community of Turin

The dataset (STATA format) of the individual survey conducted in TurinTHIS DATASET IS ARCHIVED AT DANS/EASY, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE HERE. TO VIEW A LIST OF FILES AND ACCESS THE FILES IN THIS DATASET CLICK ON THE DOI-LINK ABOV

Individual Survey - Moroccan-origin Community of Turin

The dataset (STATA format) of the individual survey conducted in TurinTHIS DATASET IS ARCHIVED AT DANS/EASY, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE HERE. TO VIEW A LIST OF FILES AND ACCESS THE FILES IN THIS DATASET CLICK ON THE DOI-LINK ABOV

Smartphones: Digital Infrastructures of the Displaced

Under the heading of digital migration studies, scholars from various disciplines have started to explore the roles of smartphones in the lives of displaced migrants. Smartphones are material, portable, embodied, and affective artefacts. Leurs and Patterson, through unpacking smartphones as infrastructures, assess the various meanings, roles, and usages smartphones may play in the lives of displaced migrants. The chapter focuses on three emergent perspectives in research on smartphones in the context of displaced migration: as part of infrastructures of (1) survival and surveillance, (2) transnational communication and emotion management, and (3) digital self-representation. In describing these three themes, the authors are attentive to highlighting the dialectic of structure and agency, subordination and empowerment