Narratives of integration: Liminality in migrant acculturation through social media

Mitra, Amit; Evansluong, Quang

Abstract

Migrant 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.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 11, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Jan 24, 2019
• Publication Date: Aug 1, 2019
• Deposit Date: Jan 11, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 25, 2020
• Journal: Technological Forecasting and Social Change
• Print ISSN: 0040-1625
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 145
• Pages: 474-480
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2019.01.011
• Keywords: acculturation, social media, migrant, ethnic identity, user generated content, community
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/853416
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2019.01.011
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2019.01.011
• Contract Date: Jan 11, 2019