How do parents and children care for each other when they are separated because of migration? The... more How do parents and children care for each other when they are separated because of migration? The way in which transnational families maintain long distance relationships has been revolutionised by the emergence of new media such as email, instant messaging, social networking sites, webcam and texting. A migrant mother in London can now call and text her left-behind children in the Philippines several times a day, peruse social networking sites and leave the webcam for 12 hours achieving a sense of co-presence.
Drawing on a long-term ethnographic study of prolonged separation between Filipina migrant mothers in the UK and their left-behind children in the Philippines, this book develops groundbreaking theory for understanding both new media and the nature of mediated relationships. The book is unique in that it brings together the perspectives of both the mothers and their left-behind children and shows how the very nature of family relationships is changing. New media, understood as an emerging environment of polymedia, become integral to the way family relationships are enacted and experienced. The theory of polymedia extends beyond the poignant case study of prolonged separation through migration and is developed as a major contribution for understanding the interconnections between digital media and interpersonal relationships.
What does it mean to watch two-hour long news programmes every evening? Why are some people ‘addi... more What does it mean to watch two-hour long news programmes every evening? Why are some people ‘addicted’ to the news while others prefer to switch off? Television is an indispensable part of the fabric of modern life and this book investigates a facet of this process: its impact on the ways that we experience the political entity of the nation and our national and transnational identities.
Drawing on anthropological, social and media theory and grounded on a two-year original ethnography of television news viewing in Athens, the book offers a fresh, interdisciplinary perspective in understanding the media/identity relationship. Starting from a perspective that examines identities as lived and as performed, the book follows the circulation of discourses about the nation and belonging and contrasts the articulation of identities at a local level with the discourses about the nation in the national television channels. The book asks: whether, and in what ways does television influence identity discourses and practices? When do people contest the official discourses about the nation and when do they rely on them? Do the media play a role in relation to inclusion and exclusion from public life, particularly in the case of minorities?
The book presents a compelling account of the contradictory and ambivalent nature of national and transnational identities while developing a nuanced approach to media power. It is argued that although the media do not shape identities in a causal way, they do contribute in creating common communicative spaces which often catalyse feelings of belonging or exclusion. The book claims a place in the emerging sub-field of media anthropology and represents the new generation of audience research that places media consumption in the wider social, economic and political context.
Events such as the phone-hacking scandal and the Leveson Inquiry, Wikileaks and the Mohammed Cart... more Events such as the phone-hacking scandal and the Leveson Inquiry, Wikileaks and the Mohammed Cartoons controversy have placed ethics of media at the centre of current debates. Media are not only centralized institutions, but also technologies and means through which we sustain relationships with each other. We live with and in media and the book sketches and critiques the normative contours of our intensely mediated worlds. What are the ‘ethics’ of media? What forms would we expect them to take? Do digital media create new ethical dilemmas and what is our responsibility as spectators/witnesses? Bringing together philosophers and media scholars and drawing on a range of contemporary case studies the book highlights the diversity of competing answers to the question ‘is there an ethics of media?’.
This chapter explores the consequences of social and mobile media for families separated because ... more This chapter explores the consequences of social and mobile media for families separated because of work. The way in which transnational families maintain long distance relationships has been transformed by the increasingly ubiquitous presence of communication environments, understood here as polymedia. Drawing on long-term ethnographic work with transnational families, I will argue that polymedia become integral to the way family relationships are enacted and experienced. Although communication technologies do not solve the problems associated with long-term separation they do engender new forms of co-presence and intimacy which have powerful emotional consequences - both positive and negative - for relationships at a distance. Transnational families come into being in (rather than with) polymedia, revealing aspects of mediation that are relevant for personal relationships more broadly.
Artificial intelligence (AI) applications have been introduced in humanitarian operations in orde... more Artificial intelligence (AI) applications have been introduced in humanitarian operations in order to help with the significant challenges the sector is facing. This article focuses on chatbots which have been proposed as an efficient method to improve communication with, and accountability to affected communities. Chatbots, together with other humanitarian AI applications such as biometrics, satellite imaging, predictive modelling and data visualisations, are often understood as part of the wider phenomenon of ‘AI for social good’. The article develops a decolonial critique of humanitarianism and critical algorithm studies which focuses on the power asymmetries underpinning both humanitarianism and AI. The article asks whether chatbots, as exemplars of ‘AI for good’, reproduce inequalities in the global context. Drawing on a mixed methods study that includes interviews with seven groups of stakeholders, the analysis observes that humanitarian chatbots do not fulfil claims such as ‘intelligence’. Yet AI applications still have powerful consequences. Apart from the risks associated with misinformation and data safeguarding, chatbots reduce communication to its barest instrumental forms which creates disconnects between affected communities and aid agencies. This disconnect is compounded by the extraction of value from data and experimentation with untested technologies. By reflecting the values of their designers and by asserting Eurocentric values in their programmed interactions, chatbots reproduce the coloniality of power. The article concludes that ‘AI for good’ is an ‘enchantment of technology’ that reworks the colonial legacies of humanitarianism whilst also occluding the power dynamics at play.
One of the most striking features of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom has been the dis... more One of the most striking features of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom has been the disproportionate way in which it has affected Black, Asian, ethnic minority, and working class people. In this article, I argue that digital technologies and data practices in the response to COVID-19 amplify social inequalities, which are already accentuated by the pandemic, thus leading to a “second-order disaster”—a human-made disaster which further traps disadvantaged people into precarity. Inequalities are reproduced both in the everyday uses of technology for distance learning and remote work as well as in the public health response. Applications such as contact tracing apps raise concerns about “function creep”—the reuse of data for different purposes than the one for which they were originally collected—while they normalize surveillance which has been traditionally used on marginalized communities. The outsourcing of the digital public health response consolidates the arrival of the privatized digital welfare state, which increases risks of potential discrimination.
Digital innovation and data practices are increasingly central to the humanitarian response to re... more Digital innovation and data practices are increasingly central to the humanitarian response to recent refugee and migration crises. In this article, I introduce the concept of technocolonialism to capture how the convergence of digital developments with humanitarian structures and market forces reinvigorates and reshapes colonial relationships of dependency. Technocolonialism shifts the attention to the constitutive role that data and digital innovation play in entrenching power asymmetries between refugees and aid agencies and ultimately inequalities in the global context. This occurs through a number of interconnected processes: by extracting value from refugee data and innovation practices for the benefit of various stakeholders; by materializing discrimination associated with colonial legacies; by contributing to the production of social orders that entrench the “coloniality of power”; and by justifying some of these practices under the context of “emergencies.” By reproducing the power asymmetries of humanitarianism, data and innovation practices become constitutive of humanitarian crises themselves.
Biometric technologies are routinely used in the response to refugee crises with the United Natio... more Biometric technologies are routinely used in the response to refugee crises with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) aiming to have all refugee data from across the world in a central population registry by the end of 2019. The article analyzes biometrics, artificial intelligence (AI), and blockchain as part of a technological assemblage, which I term the biometric assemblage. The article identifies five intersecting logics that explain wider transformations within the humanitarian sector and in turn shape the biometric assemblage. The acceleration of the rate of biometric registrations in the humanitarian sector between 2002 and 2019 reveals serious concerns regarding bias, data safeguards, data-sharing practices with states and commercial companies, experimentation with untested technologies among vulnerable people, and, finally, ethics. Technological convergence amplifies risks associated with each constituent technology of the biometric assemblage. The article finally argues that the biometric assemblage accentuates asymmetries between refugees and humanitarian agencies and ultimately entrenches inequalities in a global context.
New communication technologies are celebrated for their potential to improve the accountability o... more New communication technologies are celebrated for their potential to improve the accountability of humanitarian agencies. The response to Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 represents the most systematic implementation of “accountability to affected people” initiatives. Drawing on a year-long ethnography of the Haiyan recovery and interviews with humanitarian workers and affected people, the article reveals a narrow interpretation of accountability as feedback that is increasingly captured through mobile phones. We observe that the digitized collection of feedback is not fed back to disaster-affected communities, but is directed to donors as evidence of “impact.” Rather than improving accountability to affected people, digitized feedback mechanisms sustained humanitarianism's power asymmetries.
Voice—understood as the ability to give an account of oneself and participate in social processes... more Voice—understood as the ability to give an account of oneself and participate in social processes—is increasingly recognized as significant for humanitarian action and disaster recovery. Giving disaster-affected people the opportunity to make their voices heard has the potential to democratize humanitarianism and correct the power asymmetries on which it is based. Humanitarian agencies have embraced interactive communication technologies as tools for voice and participation. Drawing on a yearlong ethnography with communities affected by super-Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, this article assesses the potential of new communication technologies for voice. Our findings highlight a disconnect between assumptions about technology present in humanitarian policies and the actual uses of technology by affected populations. The article traces the factors that facilitate, or hinder, participation and finds that communication technologies enable voice only if other parameters, such as a strong civil society, are present. Further, we observe that opportunities for voice are stratified, mapping onto existing social inequalities.
This article investigates the intersection of digital and social inequality in the context of dis... more This article investigates the intersection of digital and social inequality in the context of disaster recovery. In doing so, the article responds to the optimism present in recent claims about “humanitarian technology” which refers to the empowering uses and applications of interactive technologies by disaster-affected people. Drawing on a long-term ethnography with affected communities recovering from Typhoon Haiyan that hit the Philippines in 2013 triggering a massive humanitarian response, the article offers a grounded assessment of the role of social media in disaster recovery. In particular, the article focuses on whether any positive consequences associated with digital media use are equally spread among better off and socially marginalized participants. The analysis reveals sharp digital inequalities which map onto existing social inequalities. While some of our already better-off participants have access to a rich media landscape which they are able to navigate often reaping significant benefits, low-income participants are trapped in a delayed recovery with diminished social media opportunities. The fact that some participants are using social media to recover at a rapid pace while others are languishing behind represents a deepening of social inequalities. In this sense, digital inequality can amplify social inequalities leading to a potential “second-order disaster.” This refers to humanly perpetuated disasters that can even surpass the effects of the natural disaster.
In this article, I develop an argument about a new type of mediated co-presence termed ‘ambient c... more In this article, I develop an argument about a new type of mediated co-presence termed ‘ambient co-presence’, which is the peripheral, yet intense awareness of distant others made possible through the affordances of ubiquitous media environments. Drawing on a long-term ethnography of UK-based Filipino migrants and their communication practices with their transnational families, I observe the increasing prevalence of an ‘always on’ culture of ubiquitous connectivity. The functions of a social networking site (SNS) such as the ‘news feed’, combined with the portability of internet-enabled devices and locative services, mean that users can be peripherally, yet constantly aware of the actions and daily rhythms of their peers. This peripheral awareness, which can be pervasive, complements other types of mediated co-presence and has powerful emotional consequences – both positive and negative – for relationships at a distance. Participants with weak relationships reported an increase in conflict especially through opportunities for surveillance. By contrast, those who enjoyed strong relationships associated ambient co-presence with low-level emotional reassurance. In this article, I also observe that ambient co-presence has implications for community and belonging. Notwithstanding the development of online norms that are culturally specific, I argue that the concept of ambient co-presence can have cross-cultural relevance for understanding the consequences of mediated communication.
Mediatization of Communication, edited by Knut Lundby, 2014
This chapter investigates the cumulative consequences of new communication technologies for the p... more 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.
This chapter investigates the cumulative consequences of new communication technologies for the p... more This chapter investigates the cumulative consequences of new communication technologies for the phenomenon of migration. Drawing on a seven 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 are increasingly used as justifications for key decisions relating to migration or settlement in the host country. The chapter brings together research with migrants and institutional actors and shows that transnational communication through new media has become implicated in making female migration more socially acceptable while ultimately influencing patterns of migration. Technologically mediated communication remains a relatively unexplored aspect of transnational family life. Although new research has recently emerged, that it took so long for this issue to be placed on the agenda of migration research is surprising given the dependency of transnational families on communication technologies, especially in conditions of prolonged separation. This chapter extends
Journal of Computer Mediated Communication vol. 19(3): 667-680 , Mar 2014
Combining features of traditional mobile phones, personal computers and the web smartphones are a... more Combining features of traditional mobile phones, personal computers and the web smartphones are at the vanguard of technological convergence. In order to assess the consequences of this multifaceted technological environment this article employs the theory of polymedia (Madianou & Miller 2012). Drawing on the transnational Philippines, and in particular UK-based Filipino migrants as the empirical focus, the article observes that users treat smartphones as integrated environments of communicative opportunities and exploit the differences within media in order to express emotions and manage their relationships. For smartphone users being online emerges as the default position and there is evidence that new media become constitutive of relationships in situations of extreme separation. However, technology cannot overcome difficulties that are fundamentally social. Moreover, the article observes the emergence of a new ‘care divide’ between those who own smartphones and those who do not.
Social media and social networking sites (SNS) in particular have become popular in current human... more Social media and social networking sites (SNS) in particular have become popular in current humanitarian campaigns. This article assesses the optimism surrounding the opportunities that SNS communication offers for humanitarian action and for the cultivation of cosmopolitan sensibilities. In order to evaluate the mediation of suffering and humanitarian causes through social media, I argue that we need to understand the architectures of social media and SNS in addition to analysing the content of the campaigns drawing on the literature on humanitarian communication. Focusing on the analysis of two humanitarian campaigns through social media, the phenomenally popular and controversial Kony 2012 campaign and WaterForward, the article observes that the architectures of SNS orientate action at a communitarian level which heightens their post-humanitarian style. However, an emerging new genre of reporting and commenting which is termed “polymedia events” can potentially extend beyond the limitations of SNS communication by opening up the space for reflexivity and dialogical imagination.
In this chapter I argue that understanding the workings of mediation – a structurally different c... more In this chapter I argue that understanding the workings of mediation – a structurally different condition from face-to-face communication – is a prerequisite to any discussion of ethics of media. A sociological analysis of the symbolic power of mediation highlights an additional reason why freedom of expression – an individual right – cannot be applied to mediated communication, which involves a different temporal and spatial scale including potentially infinite audiences. Mediation introduces new, complex forms of harm and we need a thorough understanding of the architectures of mediation as part of the conversation on ethics of media. Drawing on the witness statements at the Leveson Inquiry among other narratives of individuals who found themselves inadvertently exposed in the media, in the paper I illustrate the asymmetries of mediation and observes that digital developments and technological convergence can potentially heighten the symbolic power of mediation. Cases of mediated harm can even contribute to the problem of materialization and annihilation of voice.
International Journal of Cultural Studies, Jan 1, 2012
This article develops a new theory of polymedia in order to understand the consequences of digita... more This article develops a new theory of polymedia in order to understand the consequences of digital media in the context of interpersonal communication. Drawing on illustrative examples from a comparative ethnography of Filipino and Caribbean transnational families, the paper develops the contours of a theory of polymedia. We demonstrate how users avail of new media as a communicative environment of affordances rather than as a catalogue of ever proliferating, but discrete technologies. As a consequence, with polymedia the primary concern shifts from the constraints imposed by each individual medium to an emphasis upon the social, emotional and moral consequences of choosing between those different media. As the choice of medium acquires communicative intent, navigating the environment of polymedia becomes inextricably linked to the ways in which interpersonal relationships are experienced and managed. Polymedia is ultimately about a new relationship between the social and the technological, rather than merely a shift in the technology itself.
This article is concerned with the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on... more This article is concerned with the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on Filipina transnational mothers’ experience of motherhood, their practices of mothering and, ultimately, their identities as mothers. Drawing on ethnographic research with Filipina migrants in the UK as part of a wider study of Filipino transnational families, this article observes that, despite the digital divide and other structural inequalities, new communication technologies, such as the internet and mobile phones, allow for an empowered experience of distant mothering. Apart from a change in the practice and intensity of mothering at a distance, ICTs also have consequences for women's maternal identities and the ways in which they negotiate their ambivalence towards work and family life. In this sense, digital media can also be seen as solutions (even though difficult ones) to the cultural contradictions of migration and motherhood and the ‘accentuated ambivalence’ they engender. This, in turn, has consequences for the whole experience of migration, sometimes even affecting decisions about settlement and return.
The Philippines is an intensely migrant society with an annual migration of one million people, l... more The Philippines is an intensely migrant society with an annual migration of one million people, leading to over a tenth of the population working abroad. Many of these emigrants are mothers who often have children left behind. Family separation is now recognized as one of the social costs of migration affecting the global south. Relationships within such transnational families depend on long-distance communication and there is an increasing optimism among Filipino government agencies and telecommunications companies about the consequences of mobile phones for transnational families. This article draws on comparative research with UK-based Filipina migrants — mainly domestic workers and nurses — and their left-behind children in the Philippines. Our methodology allowed us to directly compare the experience of mothers and their children. The article concludes that while mothers feel empowered that the phone has allowed them to partially reconstruct their role as parents, their children are significantly more ambivalent about the consequences of transnational communication.
How do parents and children care for each other when they are separated because of migration? The... more How do parents and children care for each other when they are separated because of migration? The way in which transnational families maintain long distance relationships has been revolutionised by the emergence of new media such as email, instant messaging, social networking sites, webcam and texting. A migrant mother in London can now call and text her left-behind children in the Philippines several times a day, peruse social networking sites and leave the webcam for 12 hours achieving a sense of co-presence.
Drawing on a long-term ethnographic study of prolonged separation between Filipina migrant mothers in the UK and their left-behind children in the Philippines, this book develops groundbreaking theory for understanding both new media and the nature of mediated relationships. The book is unique in that it brings together the perspectives of both the mothers and their left-behind children and shows how the very nature of family relationships is changing. New media, understood as an emerging environment of polymedia, become integral to the way family relationships are enacted and experienced. The theory of polymedia extends beyond the poignant case study of prolonged separation through migration and is developed as a major contribution for understanding the interconnections between digital media and interpersonal relationships.
What does it mean to watch two-hour long news programmes every evening? Why are some people ‘addi... more What does it mean to watch two-hour long news programmes every evening? Why are some people ‘addicted’ to the news while others prefer to switch off? Television is an indispensable part of the fabric of modern life and this book investigates a facet of this process: its impact on the ways that we experience the political entity of the nation and our national and transnational identities.
Drawing on anthropological, social and media theory and grounded on a two-year original ethnography of television news viewing in Athens, the book offers a fresh, interdisciplinary perspective in understanding the media/identity relationship. Starting from a perspective that examines identities as lived and as performed, the book follows the circulation of discourses about the nation and belonging and contrasts the articulation of identities at a local level with the discourses about the nation in the national television channels. The book asks: whether, and in what ways does television influence identity discourses and practices? When do people contest the official discourses about the nation and when do they rely on them? Do the media play a role in relation to inclusion and exclusion from public life, particularly in the case of minorities?
The book presents a compelling account of the contradictory and ambivalent nature of national and transnational identities while developing a nuanced approach to media power. It is argued that although the media do not shape identities in a causal way, they do contribute in creating common communicative spaces which often catalyse feelings of belonging or exclusion. The book claims a place in the emerging sub-field of media anthropology and represents the new generation of audience research that places media consumption in the wider social, economic and political context.
Events such as the phone-hacking scandal and the Leveson Inquiry, Wikileaks and the Mohammed Cart... more Events such as the phone-hacking scandal and the Leveson Inquiry, Wikileaks and the Mohammed Cartoons controversy have placed ethics of media at the centre of current debates. Media are not only centralized institutions, but also technologies and means through which we sustain relationships with each other. We live with and in media and the book sketches and critiques the normative contours of our intensely mediated worlds. What are the ‘ethics’ of media? What forms would we expect them to take? Do digital media create new ethical dilemmas and what is our responsibility as spectators/witnesses? Bringing together philosophers and media scholars and drawing on a range of contemporary case studies the book highlights the diversity of competing answers to the question ‘is there an ethics of media?’.
This chapter explores the consequences of social and mobile media for families separated because ... more This chapter explores the consequences of social and mobile media for families separated because of work. The way in which transnational families maintain long distance relationships has been transformed by the increasingly ubiquitous presence of communication environments, understood here as polymedia. Drawing on long-term ethnographic work with transnational families, I will argue that polymedia become integral to the way family relationships are enacted and experienced. Although communication technologies do not solve the problems associated with long-term separation they do engender new forms of co-presence and intimacy which have powerful emotional consequences - both positive and negative - for relationships at a distance. Transnational families come into being in (rather than with) polymedia, revealing aspects of mediation that are relevant for personal relationships more broadly.
Artificial intelligence (AI) applications have been introduced in humanitarian operations in orde... more Artificial intelligence (AI) applications have been introduced in humanitarian operations in order to help with the significant challenges the sector is facing. This article focuses on chatbots which have been proposed as an efficient method to improve communication with, and accountability to affected communities. Chatbots, together with other humanitarian AI applications such as biometrics, satellite imaging, predictive modelling and data visualisations, are often understood as part of the wider phenomenon of ‘AI for social good’. The article develops a decolonial critique of humanitarianism and critical algorithm studies which focuses on the power asymmetries underpinning both humanitarianism and AI. The article asks whether chatbots, as exemplars of ‘AI for good’, reproduce inequalities in the global context. Drawing on a mixed methods study that includes interviews with seven groups of stakeholders, the analysis observes that humanitarian chatbots do not fulfil claims such as ‘intelligence’. Yet AI applications still have powerful consequences. Apart from the risks associated with misinformation and data safeguarding, chatbots reduce communication to its barest instrumental forms which creates disconnects between affected communities and aid agencies. This disconnect is compounded by the extraction of value from data and experimentation with untested technologies. By reflecting the values of their designers and by asserting Eurocentric values in their programmed interactions, chatbots reproduce the coloniality of power. The article concludes that ‘AI for good’ is an ‘enchantment of technology’ that reworks the colonial legacies of humanitarianism whilst also occluding the power dynamics at play.
One of the most striking features of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom has been the dis... more One of the most striking features of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom has been the disproportionate way in which it has affected Black, Asian, ethnic minority, and working class people. In this article, I argue that digital technologies and data practices in the response to COVID-19 amplify social inequalities, which are already accentuated by the pandemic, thus leading to a “second-order disaster”—a human-made disaster which further traps disadvantaged people into precarity. Inequalities are reproduced both in the everyday uses of technology for distance learning and remote work as well as in the public health response. Applications such as contact tracing apps raise concerns about “function creep”—the reuse of data for different purposes than the one for which they were originally collected—while they normalize surveillance which has been traditionally used on marginalized communities. The outsourcing of the digital public health response consolidates the arrival of the privatized digital welfare state, which increases risks of potential discrimination.
Digital innovation and data practices are increasingly central to the humanitarian response to re... more Digital innovation and data practices are increasingly central to the humanitarian response to recent refugee and migration crises. In this article, I introduce the concept of technocolonialism to capture how the convergence of digital developments with humanitarian structures and market forces reinvigorates and reshapes colonial relationships of dependency. Technocolonialism shifts the attention to the constitutive role that data and digital innovation play in entrenching power asymmetries between refugees and aid agencies and ultimately inequalities in the global context. This occurs through a number of interconnected processes: by extracting value from refugee data and innovation practices for the benefit of various stakeholders; by materializing discrimination associated with colonial legacies; by contributing to the production of social orders that entrench the “coloniality of power”; and by justifying some of these practices under the context of “emergencies.” By reproducing the power asymmetries of humanitarianism, data and innovation practices become constitutive of humanitarian crises themselves.
Biometric technologies are routinely used in the response to refugee crises with the United Natio... more Biometric technologies are routinely used in the response to refugee crises with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) aiming to have all refugee data from across the world in a central population registry by the end of 2019. The article analyzes biometrics, artificial intelligence (AI), and blockchain as part of a technological assemblage, which I term the biometric assemblage. The article identifies five intersecting logics that explain wider transformations within the humanitarian sector and in turn shape the biometric assemblage. The acceleration of the rate of biometric registrations in the humanitarian sector between 2002 and 2019 reveals serious concerns regarding bias, data safeguards, data-sharing practices with states and commercial companies, experimentation with untested technologies among vulnerable people, and, finally, ethics. Technological convergence amplifies risks associated with each constituent technology of the biometric assemblage. The article finally argues that the biometric assemblage accentuates asymmetries between refugees and humanitarian agencies and ultimately entrenches inequalities in a global context.
New communication technologies are celebrated for their potential to improve the accountability o... more New communication technologies are celebrated for their potential to improve the accountability of humanitarian agencies. The response to Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 represents the most systematic implementation of “accountability to affected people” initiatives. Drawing on a year-long ethnography of the Haiyan recovery and interviews with humanitarian workers and affected people, the article reveals a narrow interpretation of accountability as feedback that is increasingly captured through mobile phones. We observe that the digitized collection of feedback is not fed back to disaster-affected communities, but is directed to donors as evidence of “impact.” Rather than improving accountability to affected people, digitized feedback mechanisms sustained humanitarianism's power asymmetries.
Voice—understood as the ability to give an account of oneself and participate in social processes... more Voice—understood as the ability to give an account of oneself and participate in social processes—is increasingly recognized as significant for humanitarian action and disaster recovery. Giving disaster-affected people the opportunity to make their voices heard has the potential to democratize humanitarianism and correct the power asymmetries on which it is based. Humanitarian agencies have embraced interactive communication technologies as tools for voice and participation. Drawing on a yearlong ethnography with communities affected by super-Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, this article assesses the potential of new communication technologies for voice. Our findings highlight a disconnect between assumptions about technology present in humanitarian policies and the actual uses of technology by affected populations. The article traces the factors that facilitate, or hinder, participation and finds that communication technologies enable voice only if other parameters, such as a strong civil society, are present. Further, we observe that opportunities for voice are stratified, mapping onto existing social inequalities.
This article investigates the intersection of digital and social inequality in the context of dis... more This article investigates the intersection of digital and social inequality in the context of disaster recovery. In doing so, the article responds to the optimism present in recent claims about “humanitarian technology” which refers to the empowering uses and applications of interactive technologies by disaster-affected people. Drawing on a long-term ethnography with affected communities recovering from Typhoon Haiyan that hit the Philippines in 2013 triggering a massive humanitarian response, the article offers a grounded assessment of the role of social media in disaster recovery. In particular, the article focuses on whether any positive consequences associated with digital media use are equally spread among better off and socially marginalized participants. The analysis reveals sharp digital inequalities which map onto existing social inequalities. While some of our already better-off participants have access to a rich media landscape which they are able to navigate often reaping significant benefits, low-income participants are trapped in a delayed recovery with diminished social media opportunities. The fact that some participants are using social media to recover at a rapid pace while others are languishing behind represents a deepening of social inequalities. In this sense, digital inequality can amplify social inequalities leading to a potential “second-order disaster.” This refers to humanly perpetuated disasters that can even surpass the effects of the natural disaster.
In this article, I develop an argument about a new type of mediated co-presence termed ‘ambient c... more In this article, I develop an argument about a new type of mediated co-presence termed ‘ambient co-presence’, which is the peripheral, yet intense awareness of distant others made possible through the affordances of ubiquitous media environments. Drawing on a long-term ethnography of UK-based Filipino migrants and their communication practices with their transnational families, I observe the increasing prevalence of an ‘always on’ culture of ubiquitous connectivity. The functions of a social networking site (SNS) such as the ‘news feed’, combined with the portability of internet-enabled devices and locative services, mean that users can be peripherally, yet constantly aware of the actions and daily rhythms of their peers. This peripheral awareness, which can be pervasive, complements other types of mediated co-presence and has powerful emotional consequences – both positive and negative – for relationships at a distance. Participants with weak relationships reported an increase in conflict especially through opportunities for surveillance. By contrast, those who enjoyed strong relationships associated ambient co-presence with low-level emotional reassurance. In this article, I also observe that ambient co-presence has implications for community and belonging. Notwithstanding the development of online norms that are culturally specific, I argue that the concept of ambient co-presence can have cross-cultural relevance for understanding the consequences of mediated communication.
Mediatization of Communication, edited by Knut Lundby, 2014
This chapter investigates the cumulative consequences of new communication technologies for the p... more 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.
This chapter investigates the cumulative consequences of new communication technologies for the p... more This chapter investigates the cumulative consequences of new communication technologies for the phenomenon of migration. Drawing on a seven 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 are increasingly used as justifications for key decisions relating to migration or settlement in the host country. The chapter brings together research with migrants and institutional actors and shows that transnational communication through new media has become implicated in making female migration more socially acceptable while ultimately influencing patterns of migration. Technologically mediated communication remains a relatively unexplored aspect of transnational family life. Although new research has recently emerged, that it took so long for this issue to be placed on the agenda of migration research is surprising given the dependency of transnational families on communication technologies, especially in conditions of prolonged separation. This chapter extends
Journal of Computer Mediated Communication vol. 19(3): 667-680 , Mar 2014
Combining features of traditional mobile phones, personal computers and the web smartphones are a... more Combining features of traditional mobile phones, personal computers and the web smartphones are at the vanguard of technological convergence. In order to assess the consequences of this multifaceted technological environment this article employs the theory of polymedia (Madianou & Miller 2012). Drawing on the transnational Philippines, and in particular UK-based Filipino migrants as the empirical focus, the article observes that users treat smartphones as integrated environments of communicative opportunities and exploit the differences within media in order to express emotions and manage their relationships. For smartphone users being online emerges as the default position and there is evidence that new media become constitutive of relationships in situations of extreme separation. However, technology cannot overcome difficulties that are fundamentally social. Moreover, the article observes the emergence of a new ‘care divide’ between those who own smartphones and those who do not.
Social media and social networking sites (SNS) in particular have become popular in current human... more Social media and social networking sites (SNS) in particular have become popular in current humanitarian campaigns. This article assesses the optimism surrounding the opportunities that SNS communication offers for humanitarian action and for the cultivation of cosmopolitan sensibilities. In order to evaluate the mediation of suffering and humanitarian causes through social media, I argue that we need to understand the architectures of social media and SNS in addition to analysing the content of the campaigns drawing on the literature on humanitarian communication. Focusing on the analysis of two humanitarian campaigns through social media, the phenomenally popular and controversial Kony 2012 campaign and WaterForward, the article observes that the architectures of SNS orientate action at a communitarian level which heightens their post-humanitarian style. However, an emerging new genre of reporting and commenting which is termed “polymedia events” can potentially extend beyond the limitations of SNS communication by opening up the space for reflexivity and dialogical imagination.
In this chapter I argue that understanding the workings of mediation – a structurally different c... more In this chapter I argue that understanding the workings of mediation – a structurally different condition from face-to-face communication – is a prerequisite to any discussion of ethics of media. A sociological analysis of the symbolic power of mediation highlights an additional reason why freedom of expression – an individual right – cannot be applied to mediated communication, which involves a different temporal and spatial scale including potentially infinite audiences. Mediation introduces new, complex forms of harm and we need a thorough understanding of the architectures of mediation as part of the conversation on ethics of media. Drawing on the witness statements at the Leveson Inquiry among other narratives of individuals who found themselves inadvertently exposed in the media, in the paper I illustrate the asymmetries of mediation and observes that digital developments and technological convergence can potentially heighten the symbolic power of mediation. Cases of mediated harm can even contribute to the problem of materialization and annihilation of voice.
International Journal of Cultural Studies, Jan 1, 2012
This article develops a new theory of polymedia in order to understand the consequences of digita... more This article develops a new theory of polymedia in order to understand the consequences of digital media in the context of interpersonal communication. Drawing on illustrative examples from a comparative ethnography of Filipino and Caribbean transnational families, the paper develops the contours of a theory of polymedia. We demonstrate how users avail of new media as a communicative environment of affordances rather than as a catalogue of ever proliferating, but discrete technologies. As a consequence, with polymedia the primary concern shifts from the constraints imposed by each individual medium to an emphasis upon the social, emotional and moral consequences of choosing between those different media. As the choice of medium acquires communicative intent, navigating the environment of polymedia becomes inextricably linked to the ways in which interpersonal relationships are experienced and managed. Polymedia is ultimately about a new relationship between the social and the technological, rather than merely a shift in the technology itself.
This article is concerned with the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on... more This article is concerned with the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on Filipina transnational mothers’ experience of motherhood, their practices of mothering and, ultimately, their identities as mothers. Drawing on ethnographic research with Filipina migrants in the UK as part of a wider study of Filipino transnational families, this article observes that, despite the digital divide and other structural inequalities, new communication technologies, such as the internet and mobile phones, allow for an empowered experience of distant mothering. Apart from a change in the practice and intensity of mothering at a distance, ICTs also have consequences for women's maternal identities and the ways in which they negotiate their ambivalence towards work and family life. In this sense, digital media can also be seen as solutions (even though difficult ones) to the cultural contradictions of migration and motherhood and the ‘accentuated ambivalence’ they engender. This, in turn, has consequences for the whole experience of migration, sometimes even affecting decisions about settlement and return.
The Philippines is an intensely migrant society with an annual migration of one million people, l... more The Philippines is an intensely migrant society with an annual migration of one million people, leading to over a tenth of the population working abroad. Many of these emigrants are mothers who often have children left behind. Family separation is now recognized as one of the social costs of migration affecting the global south. Relationships within such transnational families depend on long-distance communication and there is an increasing optimism among Filipino government agencies and telecommunications companies about the consequences of mobile phones for transnational families. This article draws on comparative research with UK-based Filipina migrants — mainly domestic workers and nurses — and their left-behind children in the Philippines. Our methodology allowed us to directly compare the experience of mothers and their children. The article concludes that while mothers feel empowered that the phone has allowed them to partially reconstruct their role as parents, their children are significantly more ambivalent about the consequences of transnational communication.
This paper provides a historical perspective on communication among Filipino transnational famili... more This paper provides a historical perspective on communication among Filipino transnational families. Before the explosion of communication channels and opportunities brought about with the arrival of mobile telephony, cheap international calls and the internet in the late 1990s, communication between migrant parents and left-behind children was dominated by letters and cassette tapes. For mothers who had arrived in the UK in the 1970s this represented a period of almost two decades. Our research is based on one-year long ethnography with Filipino migrants in the London and Cambridge areas, who had typically come to the UK after periods in the Middle East or Hong Kong and are employed as domestic workers or nurses. Mostly these are mothers separated from their families for almost the entirety of their children’s development. Apart from fieldwork with mothers many of whom recall this early period of their migration as dominated by letters and cassettes, we also conducted fieldwork in the Philippines interviewing the now grown up children of these mothers. In this article we compare accounts of mothers and children, and also the different qualities associated with letters and cassettes, such as temporality, materiality and the public-private distinction. We examine how the different media structure the relationships between parents and children and also how these media are appropriated in the context of different relationships as part of our understanding of the dialectical nature of media as a process of mediation.
International Journal of Cultural Studies, Jan 1, 2011
This article brings together the literatures on shame and mediation in order to consider whether ... more This article brings together the literatures on shame and mediation in order to consider whether shame is generated, or amplified, in situations of mediation such as those when people find themselves exposed in the news media. Acknowledging the social nature of shame that presupposes the other’s regard for oneself, and drawing on a revision of Cooley’s concept of the ‘looking-glass self’ to describe the monitoring of the self from the point of view of the others in the context of mediation, the article argues that news can be a looking-glass through which viewers mirror themselves. Apart from heightening the awareness of the other’s gaze and expectations, news becomes a looking-glass in a more literal way. This occurs in the instances of mediated exposure when people find themselves unwillingly in the news. After an initial theoretical discussion of the emotion of shame and how such theories need to be revised in order to capture the structural transformations pertaining to mediated interaction, the article concentrates on a personal narrative of unwanted mediated exposure and observes how shame can be generated and amplified in the context of mediation, thus revealing the symbolic power of the media with potential consequences for social monitoring and conformity.
This chapter contains sections titled: Essentializing Culture – Essentializing EssentialismDomest... more This chapter contains sections titled: Essentializing Culture – Essentializing EssentialismDomesticating the GlobalTransnational Audiences: Ambivalence and ReflexivityThe Boundary-Making Role of MediaNew Media and Transnational Audiences: Lifting the Boundaries?Methodological and Theoretical Implications for Audience StudiesConclusionsReferencesEssentializing Culture – Essentializing EssentialismDomesticating the GlobalTransnational Audiences: Ambivalence and ReflexivityThe Boundary-Making Role of MediaNew Media and Transnational Audiences: Lifting the Boundaries?Methodological and Theoretical Implications for Audience StudiesConclusionsReferences
Uploads
Books by Mirca Madianou
Drawing on a long-term ethnographic study of prolonged separation between Filipina migrant mothers in the UK and their left-behind children in the Philippines, this book develops groundbreaking theory for understanding both new media and the nature of mediated relationships. The book is unique in that it brings together the perspectives of both the mothers and their left-behind children and shows how the very nature of family relationships is changing. New media, understood as an emerging environment of polymedia, become integral to the way family relationships are enacted and experienced. The theory of polymedia extends beyond the poignant case study of prolonged separation through migration and is developed as a major contribution for understanding the interconnections between digital media and interpersonal relationships.
Drawing on anthropological, social and media theory and grounded on a two-year original ethnography of television news viewing in Athens, the book offers a fresh, interdisciplinary perspective in understanding the media/identity relationship. Starting from a perspective that examines identities as lived and as performed, the book follows the circulation of discourses about the nation and belonging and contrasts the articulation of identities at a local level with the discourses about the nation in the national television channels. The book asks: whether, and in what ways does television influence identity discourses and practices? When do people contest the official discourses about the nation and when do they rely on them? Do the media play a role in relation to inclusion and exclusion from public life, particularly in the case of minorities?
The book presents a compelling account of the contradictory and ambivalent nature of national and transnational identities while developing a nuanced approach to media power. It is argued that although the media do not shape identities in a causal way, they do contribute in creating common communicative spaces which often catalyse feelings of belonging or exclusion. The book claims a place in the emerging sub-field of media anthropology and represents the new generation of audience research that places media consumption in the wider social, economic and political context.
Papers by Mirca Madianou
for different purposes than the one for which they were originally collected—while they normalize surveillance which has been traditionally used on marginalized communities. The outsourcing of the digital public health response consolidates the arrival of the privatized digital welfare state, which increases risks of potential discrimination.
Drawing on a long-term ethnographic study of prolonged separation between Filipina migrant mothers in the UK and their left-behind children in the Philippines, this book develops groundbreaking theory for understanding both new media and the nature of mediated relationships. The book is unique in that it brings together the perspectives of both the mothers and their left-behind children and shows how the very nature of family relationships is changing. New media, understood as an emerging environment of polymedia, become integral to the way family relationships are enacted and experienced. The theory of polymedia extends beyond the poignant case study of prolonged separation through migration and is developed as a major contribution for understanding the interconnections between digital media and interpersonal relationships.
Drawing on anthropological, social and media theory and grounded on a two-year original ethnography of television news viewing in Athens, the book offers a fresh, interdisciplinary perspective in understanding the media/identity relationship. Starting from a perspective that examines identities as lived and as performed, the book follows the circulation of discourses about the nation and belonging and contrasts the articulation of identities at a local level with the discourses about the nation in the national television channels. The book asks: whether, and in what ways does television influence identity discourses and practices? When do people contest the official discourses about the nation and when do they rely on them? Do the media play a role in relation to inclusion and exclusion from public life, particularly in the case of minorities?
The book presents a compelling account of the contradictory and ambivalent nature of national and transnational identities while developing a nuanced approach to media power. It is argued that although the media do not shape identities in a causal way, they do contribute in creating common communicative spaces which often catalyse feelings of belonging or exclusion. The book claims a place in the emerging sub-field of media anthropology and represents the new generation of audience research that places media consumption in the wider social, economic and political context.
for different purposes than the one for which they were originally collected—while they normalize surveillance which has been traditionally used on marginalized communities. The outsourcing of the digital public health response consolidates the arrival of the privatized digital welfare state, which increases risks of potential discrimination.