14. Polymedia communication and mediatized migration: an ethnographic approach

Abstract

This chapter investigates the cumulative consequences of new communication technologies for the phenomenon of migration. Drawing on a five-year-long comparative and multi-sited ethnography of long-distance communication within Filipino transnational families I demonstrate that the recent convergence in new communication technologies has profound consequences not just for the migrants and their left-behind families but for the phenomenon of migration as a whole. Although new media cannot solve the fundamentally social problems of family separation, they have become integral to how these relationships are experienced and managed. Despite the transnational asymmetries in infrastructure and media literacy, the increasing availability of transnational communication is used as a justification for key decisions relating to migration or settlement in the host country. This discourse, which ultimately normalizes migration decisions, is also evident at an institutional level. The chapter brings together research with institutional actors as well as migrant families and shows that transnational communication through new media -understood as an environment of polymedia -has become implicated in making female migration more socially acceptable while ultimately influencing patterns of migration. By bringing together an analysis of interpersonal communication as mediation and social change as mediatization the chapter shows that media do not just add a new dimension to the phenomenon of migration -they transform it altogether. The chapter also outlines the distinct contribution of an ethnographic approach to mediatization.

Communicative Figurations and Cross-Media Research

“…In their theoretical introduction to this volume, Hepp and Hasebrink argue that the study of how media influence social processes has become more complicated as a result of the rapidly evolving media manifold (Couldry 2012: 44), life with polymedia (Madianou 2014) and so on.…”

Rethinking the Digital Divide: Smartphones as Translanguaging Tools Among Middle Eastern Refugees in New Jersey

“…Reports from the field suggest that people have used phones and apps, from Messenger to Google Maps to WhatsApp, to redefine the migrant experience through access to, and gaps in between, moments of connectivity. Being "online," as Madianou (2014) has pointed out, is no exceptional state among smartphone users, and migrants as much as anyone else actively use theirs to cope practically, socially, and psychologically.…”

“…Members of the Middle Eastern diaspora not only embrace mobile technologies for their economic, political, and social utility, they have also launched new smartphone apps and websites to ease fellow refugees’ transitions to resettlement communities (Robinson ). The “polymedia environments” (Madianou ) made possible by smartphones allow dispersed families to remain in touch through audiovisual and social networking platforms while navigating the demands of their new lives. Reports from the field suggest that people have used phones and apps, from Messenger to Google Maps to WhatsApp, to redefine the migrant experience through access to, and gaps in between, moments of connectivity.…”

Medijatizacija i društvena promjena

“…Transmedijalnost (engleski cross-media i trans-media) upućuje na to da različite medije koristimo na mnogim platformama -televiziju na velikom TV ekranu (koji je često također spojen na Internet ili barem ima priključak za casting), televiziju na kompjutoru, telefonu ili tabletu -ali i da neku priču/temu pratimo na različitim medijima -na primjer, vidimo vijest na Twitteru na telefonu, pa kliknemo i to nas odvede na Internet stranicu medija koji je objavio vijest, onda poguglamo da vidimo što su drugi o tome objavili i konačno uključimo televiziju da bismo na večernjim vijestima vidjeli analizu i razvoj priče. Polimedija (polymedia, Madianou, 2014) upućuje na objedinjavanje svih medija na društvenim platformama/mrežama kroz koje su nam dostupni i nekadašnji, ali transformirani, televizija, radio, tisak, film, glazba, knjige. To, naravno, usložnjava empirijsku analizu medijatizacije pa se razvijaju novi pristupi istraživanju publika u medijatiziranom okruženju, uključujući pristup medijskih repertoara (Hasebrink i Domeyer, 2012; za primjenu pristupa medijskih repertoara u analizi publika u Hrvatskoj vidi Vozab, 2016;Peruško, Čuvalo i Vozab, 2017b).…”

“…Mirca Madianou (2014) provodi etnografsku analizu značenja mobilnih komunikacijskih tehnologija (mobilnih telefona) u medijatizaciji transnacionalnih migracija i pokazuje kako nove mogućnosti komunikacijskih tehnologija omogućavaju transformaciju migrantskih obitelji i veza s udaljenim pripadnicima.…”