Research Projects
In this section we feature academic research that explores the intricate and sometimes conflicting aspects of how migrants engage with technology. Here, we celebrate the spirit of collaborative knowledge production, showcasing projects that embody interdisciplinary synergy and innovative thinking. Our platform is particularly dedicated to spotlighting the contributions of early-career scholars, though we welcome the insights of established researchers as well. This section serves as a vibrant incubator for pioneering ideas, offering fresh perspectives and advancing the scholarly conversation on migration and technology.
The importance of recognizing and understanding the digital leisure activities of forcibly displaced populations, often overlooked in research focused on utility-driven ends, is crucial for creating meaningful humanitarian interventions and ensuring accurate narratives about these communities.
Key words: Digital leisure, forced displaced, refugees, technology, participatory filmmaking.
This project aims to advance theoretical understandings of power differentials that are embodied in the use of technologies to promote livelihoods and financial inclusion for refugees. It involves a combination of fieldwork observations, interviews and focus groups to examine technology adoption by Venezuelan women refugees and humanitarian actors in the context of a digital work programme in the city of Boa Vista (Brazil).
Key words: Digital work, Digital economy, Refugee livelihoods, Women refugees, Humanitarian agencies.
The research project aims to analysis of counter-hegemonic narratives produced and shared in digital media by Haitian immigrants in Brazil during 2015 and 2017. The analysis demonstrates how these narratives evidence racism experienced by these immigrants residing in Brazil.
Key words: Activism; Digital media; Haitian immigration; Narratives; Racism, Brazil.
What does it mean for a newcomer 'to thrive'? Is it having a home, a meaningful job, lots of friends? When newcomers feel like they belong in a city, they will feel more at home and their well-being and participation will increase. Through Becoming a Rotterdammer, we seek newcomers who excel in belonging, potentially discovering strategies that hasten their sense of home, which others can emulate.
Key words: Positive deviants, social media, newcomers, bottom-up innovation, action research.
Digital Place-makers
Digital Place-makers is a Participatory Video program in which participants learn how to use different digital media technologies for visualizing and sharing their perspectives on place-making and belonging while reflecting on ethical technological developments for enhancing newcomers agency through and in the digital.
Key words: Participatory Video, place-making, belonging, Rotterdam, filmmaking.
Brazilians in Spain
The purpose of this project is to analyze the communication and transnational activism of Brazilian immigrants in Barcelona, Spain, which can be linked to the current context of economic and political crisis in Brazil, focusing on the collective actions of these immigrants against the impeachment of former President Dilma Rousseff.
Key words: Communication, Brazilian immigration, activism, politics, transnationality, social networks.
