Koen Leurs, in de trein naar Londen meldt:
In my slot, I would like to discuss a project I am developing
on technology use among asylum seeker youth for identity, learning and
networking purposes entitled: Technology as a refuge? Digital media use among young asylum seekers.
In dominant Information and Communication Technology for
Development (ICT4D) discourses, technology is celebrated as a refuge for
state-less subjects. Digital technologies promise asylum seekers
unheralded opportunities to keep in touch with family members and
homeland across large geographical distances but also to identify, gain
knowledge and network with citizens in the host country.
As a
consequence, commercial, governmental and philanthropic investors
increasingly develop technologies for this population segment. However,
interpretative research addressing the meaning of these technologies in
the lives of forced migrants is scarce.
Combining humanities and social
sciences approaches, the primary aim of this interdisciplinary project
is to explore how digitalization and migration transform identification,
learning and networking among young asylum seekers.
Especially I would
like to discuss participatory research techniques such as digital
methods, photo-voice/photo elicitation and image-based concept mapping.
Furthermore, more conceptually, if time allows I would like to explore
with fellow participants the merits of re-discovering 1990’s
theorizations of “hypertext” to analyze/empirically trace contemporary
individual/collective processes of digital identification, for example
on personal profile pages on online social networking sites.
In
particular, I would like to see how these ideas are helpful to further
develop understanding of the intersecting parameters race, gender, age,
religiosity, generation are distributed online as affective forms of
oppression and agency. I will ground this discussion in my empirical
work on digital identity performativity among urban ethnic/religious
minority youth in the Netherlands.
For more info on current projects see
www.koenleurs.net, www.uu.nl/wiredup and http://www.mignetproject.eu/
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Leurs, K., Midden, E. &
Ponzanesi, S. (2012). Digital multiculturalism in the Netherlands:
Religious, ethnic, and gender positioning by Moroccan-Dutch youth.
Religion and Gender, 2(1), 150-175. Available online: http://www.religionandgender.org/index.php/rg/article/view/36 -
Leurs, K. & Ponzanesi, S. (2011). Communicative spaces of their own. Migrant girls performing selves using Instant Messaging software. Feminist Review, 99, 55-78.
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Leurs, K. & Ponzanesi, S. (2011). Mediated crossroads: Youthful digital diasporas. M/C Journal, 14 (2), Available online: http://journal.media-culture.org.au/
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Leurs, K. (2012). Digital Passages.
Moroccan-Dutch youths performing diaspora, gender and youth cultural
identities across digital space. Dissertation. Available online: http://igitur-archive.library.uu.nl/dissertations/2012-0614-200543/UUindex.html
Background reading on hypertext: The Performative and Processual: A
Study of Hypertext/Postcolonial Aesthetic. By Jaishree K. Odin,
University of Hawaii at Manoa Available online: http://www.postcolonialweb.org/poldiscourse/odin/odin1.html I recommend the introduction which is divided into 3 short pieces: