Technologies of Refuge and Displacement: Rethinking Digital Divides

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Description

Technologies of Refuge and Displacement: Rethinking Digital Divides aims to theoretically and practically understand technology access and use from the perspective of those on the wrong side of the digital divide. Specifically, it examines refugees as a group that has received scant attention as technology users, despite their urgent need for technological access to sustain tenuous links to family and loved ones during displacement. It draws from over 100 interviews and surveys with refugees conducted from 2007 to 2011, utilizing this empirical data to interrogate well-known theories about technology and its users. In doing so, it seeks to rethink the popular model of digital divide and offer alternative ways of conceptualizing technology literacy and access. It examines how principles from design and IT industries can be applied to contexts with constrained availability, access, and affordability to provide technology services that accommodate users with limited technical and language literacies.

Reviews

Using empirical data from surveys and interviews with refugees, this stimulating book interrogates and deconstructs the narrative of a singular digital divide, and allows for greater complexity in understanding the relationship between technology and forced migration. -- Giorgia Dona, University of East London
Grounded in empirical research that centers refugee voices, Leungs book challenges notions of technological haves and have nots. Multiple ways in which refugees utilise technology, often against the odds, reveal resourcefulness, innovation, and agency. This book will make a major contribution to scholars and practitioners in refugee studies, social sciences, and technology. -- Linda Briskman, Western Sydney University
Dr. Leung's pioneering book explores the relationship between global population movements and emerging digital technologies. It provides insights based on empirical work relevant to scholars from a wide range of disciplines including refugee and development studies, STS and technology design, as well as to policy-makers, planners and refugee groups themselves. -- Nod Miller, University of East London

Author Bio

Linda Leung is associate professor and honorary associate at the University of Technology Sydney.