Contrapuntal Connectedness: Analysing Relations Between Social Media Data and Ethnography in Digital Migration Studies

Marie Sandberg,Luca Rossi,Nina Grønlykke Mollerup

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-81226-3_3

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter presents a rethinking of the relationship between ethnography and so-called big social data as being comparable to those between a sum and its parts (Strathern 1991/2004). Taking cue from Tim Ingold’s one world anthropology (2018) the chapter argues that relations between ethnography and social media data can be established as contrapuntal. That is, the types of material are understood as different, yet fundamentally interconnected. The chapter explores and qualifies this affinity with the aim of identifying potentials and further questions for digital migration research. The chapter is based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out with Syrian refugees and solidarians in the Danish–Swedish borderlands in 2018–2019 as well as data collected for 2011–2018 from 200 public Facebook pages run by solidarity organisations, NGOs, and informal refugee welcome and solidarity groups.

Highlights

Digital methods and computational analysis have made great progress in recent years in the humanities and social sciences
We explore the potentials of combining ethnography and social media data by establishing relations in our material as contrapuntal
By establishing contrapuntal relations in our material, we explore and qualify this affinity with the aim of identifying further potentials and questions for digital migration research when bringing social media data and ethnographic materials into conversation

Summary

Introduction

Digital methods and computational analysis have made great progress in recent years in the humanities and social sciences. We explore the potentials of combining ethnography and social media data by establishing relations in our material as contrapuntal. By establishing contrapuntal relations in our material, we explore and qualify this affinity with the aim of identifying further potentials and questions for digital migration research when bringing social media data and ethnographic materials into conversation.

Objectives

Results

Conclusion