The digital force in forced migration: Imagined affordances and gendered practices

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article illustrates through two case studies how gendered practices structure imagined affordances of technologies. Using the example of two women seeking asylum in Germany, the article shows how the women engaged with the affordances of visibility and sociality and how institutionalized living associated with the asylum bureaucracy and gendered logics reinforced by that system shaped the women’s engagement. The women used creative tactics to engage with technology, skillfully navigating and appropriating the terrain of situated gendered discourses. The article reiterates the importance of understanding how gendered practices and norms intersect with forced movement but also argues for exploring more how technology structures gendered imaginations, discourses, and practices in relation to migration. In addition, the article calls for examining imagined technological affordances within their historical, political, and institutionalized settings in order to avoid a technocentric perspective.