Forced migrants, emotive practice and digital heterotopia. Issue 1 (1st March 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Witteborn, Saskia
• Is Part Of: Crossings. Volume 5:Issue 1(2014)
• Page Start: 73
• Page End: 85
• Publication Date: 2014-03-01
• Subjects: Emigration and immigration -- Periodicals; Emigration and immigration -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Multiculturalism -- Periodicals; 304.8205
• DOI: 10.1386/cjmc.5.1.73_1
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2040-4344

Abstract

Despite being caught in cycles of waiting and being arrested in institutionalized accommodations, forced migrants engage increasingly in digital border crossings. While the study of digital practice has attracted much scholarly interest, the role of emotions in processes of migration and digital connecting has been neglected. This article explores the role of emotions in the structuring of and engagement with digital heterotopias. Field research with 127 forced migrants in Germany over a period of three years illustrates how shame and fear structure digital practice and heterotopic space and regulate digital connectivity. The study suggests that emotions are instrumental in gendering digital practice and influencing solidarization processes, with shame and fear strengthening spaces of exclusion and supporting the logics of control by the nation state.