DIGITALLY MEDIATED DIASPORIC FORMATIONS: EVERYDAY MOTHERING PRACTICES OF ROMANIAN, TURKISH, AND SOMALI WOMEN LIVING IN THE NETHERLANDS

This research investigates digitally mediated diasporic formations. It focuses on the role of mothering experiences in diaspora-making by looking at three migrant communities in the Netherlands—Romanian, Somali, and Turkish—and their uses of digital media. The aim of the dissertation is to show how mainly Amsterdam-based mothers from the three communities choose and use certain digital and social media platforms in order to strengthen their diasporic connections, both locally and transnationally. Drawing from feminist and migration studies, I propose the concept of diasporic mothering to empha... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Candidatu, Laura Iuliana
Dokumenttyp: Dissertation
Erscheinungsdatum: 2021
Verlag/Hrsg.: Utrecht University
Schlagwörter: digital diaspora / motherhood / migration / migrant women / digital media / Somali / Romanian / Turkish
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-27221004
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/402642

This research investigates digitally mediated diasporic formations. It focuses on the role of mothering experiences in diaspora-making by looking at three migrant communities in the Netherlands—Romanian, Somali, and Turkish—and their uses of digital media. The aim of the dissertation is to show how mainly Amsterdam-based mothers from the three communities choose and use certain digital and social media platforms in order to strengthen their diasporic connections, both locally and transnationally. Drawing from feminist and migration studies, I propose the concept of diasporic mothering to emphasize how migrant mothers build communities through work of cultural reproduction, collective identity construction, and stable homemaking practices. I argue for the understanding of diasporas in the context of changing political, historical, and social contexts. By privileging an ethnographic perspective and taking a non-media-centric approach, I show how not only digital media, but also the material dimensions of everyday practices shape how migrants connect, both transnationally and with each other within the diaspora community. Following these theoretical and methodological considerations, I define digital diasporas as heterogeneous and dynamic communities, marked by the intersection of gender, class, race, and ethnic differentiation, and embedded in everyday social interactions, in material and digital spaces. The empirical part of the dissertation is based on one year of fieldwork with the three diasporic communities, in which the relation between digital diaspora formation and diasporic mothering practices was further explored. In the case of the Romanian community, I show how highly skilled migrant mothers mainly engage in diaspora formation via efforts toward aimed at the maintenance of family ties and heritage language transmission. I particularly emphasize how class and homeland politics are of high relevance for how these processes happen, both online and offline. In the Turkish case, I discuss the interplay ...