Privacy in collapsed contexts of displacement. Issue 4 (19th May 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Witteborn, Saskia
• Is Part Of: Feminist media studies. Volume 22:Issue 4(2022)
• Page Start: 883
• Page End: 897
• Publication Date: 2022-05-19
• Subjects: Collapsed context of displacement -- privacy -- refugees -- social media -- mobile phones; Feminism -- Periodicals; Women in mass media -- Periodicals; Mass media and women -- Periodicals; Feminist criticism -- Periodicals; Mass media and sex -- Periodicals; 302.23082
• DOI: 10.1080/14680777.2020.1841814
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1468-0777

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The paper explores privacy in collapsed contexts of displacement. It makes a case against technocentric and universalizing definitions of privacy by exploring its relational and contextual dimensions, including cultural expectations and the political and economic conditions of seeking asylum. In particular, this paper discusses how displaced women seeking asylum in Germany employed the practice of hiding (e.g., physical movement and the use of digital devices) to engage with digital support networks. The women pushed for expanding and protecting their digital social relations, but this protection came at the cost of harassment and reinforced privacy norms, limiting their physical movement and digital communication. The paper highlights that those reinforced privacy norms are not just a reductive move to preserve collective values but should also be read as a protective response to legal and sociocultural uncertainty related to displacement.