Threads across borders: forced migration in a digital world

Does digital connection increase belonging or enhance control? Explore how the digital world is reshaping migration.
About this Event

Talk Description

Migration today is no longer simply a story of leaving one place and beginning anew in another. Digital connection means migrants and refugees can remain deeply linked across borders, living in multiple worlds at once. At the same time, digital connection is changing those borders. No longer confined to the physical – coastlines, airports or checkpoints – borders are increasingly shaped through databases, visa systems and surveillance technologies that reach into everyday life and expose migrants and refugees to dangers, visibility and control. Join Professor Jay Marlowe as he reveals how digital connection helps migrants and refugees develop belonging, care and identity across distance while, at the same time, can expose their globally connected lives to increasing digital scrutiny by border systems. He will also discuss what refugee journeys reveal about identity, social cohesion, and the future of belonging in unsettled times.
Bio

Jay Marlowe is Professor of Social Work in the School of Education and Social Practice. He researches refugee resettlement, migration, social media, and how people, borders, politics and smartphones can collide. Jay is interested in belonging, social cohesion, and why borders follow people long after crossing. He is a co-founder of the Centre for Asia Pacific Refugee Studies and is in the top two percent of researchers in his field.