Narratives of integration: Liminality in migrant acculturation through social media

Publication date: Available online 24 January 2019Source: Technological Forecasting and Social ChangeAuthor(s): Amit Mitra, Quang EvansluongAbstractMigrant integration is a long drawn out process requiring synergies with various dimensions of life, rhyming with those of the host country. In this paper, we attempt to deconstruct the digital narratives of migrants to explore how they may lead to a meaningful assessment of their acculturation and consequent integration in their host societies'. Drawing on acculturation theory as a lens, we argue that migrants' use of social media creates a liminality that is synonymous to ambiguity and disorientation that may diminish through a composite adaptation of acculturation and ethnic identity. Our data evidence on social media use among migrants domiciled in major cities in Sweden suggest that social media-based interaction of migrants is not encouraging integration, while their digital proclivities tend to define their narratives of online ethnicity and their physical realities. Implications for migrant integration are presented.

Source: Technological Forecasting and Social Change - January 25, 2019 Category: Science Source Type: research