Research Methodologies And Ethical Challenges In Digital Migration Studies: Caring For (Big) Data?

Description

This book investigates the methodological and ethical dilemmas involved when working with digital technologies and large-scale datasets in relation to ethnographic studies of digital migration practices and trajectories. Digital technologies reshape not only every phase of the migration process itself (by providing new ways to access, to share and preserve relevant information) but also the activities of other actors, from solidarity networks to border control agencies. In doing so, digital technologies create a whole new set of ethical and methodological challenges for migration studies: from data access to data interpretation, privacy protection, and research ethics more generally. Of specific concern are the aspects of digital migration researchers accessing digital platforms used by migrants, who are subject to precarious and insecure life circumstances, lack recognised papers and are in danger of being rejected and deported. Thus, the authors call for new modes of caring for (big) data when researching migrants’ digital practices in the configuration of migration and borders. Besides taking proper care of research participants’ privacy, autonomy, and security, this also spans carefully establishing analytically sustainable environments for the respective data sets. In doing so, the book argues that it is essential to carefully reflect on researchers’ own positioning as being part of the challenge they seek to address. Acknowledgments Praise for Research Methodologies and Ethical Challenges in Digital Migration Studies Contents Notes on Contributors List of Figures 1 Caring for (Big) Data: An Introduction to Research Methodologies and Ethical Challenges in Digital Migration Studies Introduction—The Scope of This Book Ethical and Methodology Challenges in Migration Studies Digital Migration Research—Past and Future Methodological Challenges in an Emerging Field It Is Big Data—Who Cares? Outline of the Book Conclusion Bibliography Part I Digital and Qualitative Data Dynamics 2 Migrant Digital Space: Building an Incomplete Map to Navigate Public Online Migration Introduction Migrants’ Digital Traces Configuring Migrant Digital Space The Practice of Mapping MDS Migrants’ Everyday Digital Places The Evolution of Everyday Life Throughout the Journey Everyday Vulnerability Non-institutional Is More Trustworthy? Temporal Evolution of MDS Conclusions Bibliography 3 Contrapuntal Connectedness: Analysing Relations Between Social Media Data and Ethnography in Digital Migration Studies Introduction One World Anthropology Life as Experienced, Traced Life On Non-Scalability Digital Migration Studies: An Emerging Field Stitching, Complementing, Remixing… Methodological Design and Ethical Considerations On the Ethics of Digital Data for Migration Studies Creating a Data Environment Relevant for Contrapuntal Analysis Border Enactments Example #1: The Border as an Event Example #2: The Instability of the Border Contrapuntal Moves: Conclusion Bibliography 4 Migration Trail: Exploring the Interplay Between Data visualisation, Cartography and Fiction Introduction Migration Data Visualisations, Cartographies and Fiction Research Objectives of the Analysis Denotative Investigation of Migration Trail: An Overview of the Website The Main Cartographical View The Fictional Chat Box Spatial Data Visualisations The Ethical, Political and Methodological Concerns of Migration Trail’s Fictional Account Challenging Traditional Media Portrayals? Conclusion Bibliography 5 Migration Multiple? Big Data, Knowledge Practices and the Governability of Migration Introduction The Big Data and Migration Apparatus Enacting Migration: Knowledge Practices and Migration Multiple Enactments of Migration in Big-Data-Based Research Papers Multiple Enactments of Migration: Data-Driven Definitions Work of Coordination: Enacting Migration as a Singular Object by Reference to Migration Narratives Conclusion Bibliography Part II Ethical Challenges in Digital Migration Research and Beyond 6 Impossible Research? Ethical Challenges in the (Digital) Study of Deportable Populations Within the European Border Regime Introduction Migration Research Ethics From “Do No Harm” to “Do a Lot of Harm”—Towards Politics of Critical Ethics Militant Research as an Ethical Research Strategy Autonomy of Migration and Research Ethics How to Study Deportable Populations—Impossible Research or Political Research Bibliography 7 The Redundant Researcher: Fieldwork, Solidarity, and Migration Introduction Arriving on the Islands: From Emotions of Scepticism to Holistic Shame Fieldwork or Minefield? Reluctant Trust, Vulnerabilisation, and Political Solidarity Lesvos: “Hell on Earth” Back to Athens: Towards an Emancipatory Migration Research Paradigm? Conclusion? Bibliography 8 Emotional Introspection: The Politics and Challenges of Contemporary Migration Research Introduction A Note on Methodology Conducting Migration Research at the Present Moment Field-Related Exposure, Institutional Drivers, and Emotional Vulnerability Insecure Places and Hopeless Situations Emotional Rewards Conducive Institutional Cultures? Contagious Field Sites, Empathy and Emotions The Process of Writing Digital Availability Conclusion and Ways Ahead Bibliography Part III Comments 9 On Data and Care in Migration Contexts Data Caring for (Big) Data Conclusions Bibliography 10 Caring as Critical Proximity: A Call for Toolmaking in Digital Migration Studies Caring for Digital Traces and Relational Spaces Implications for Digital Migration Studies Bibliography 11 What Should We Do as Intellectual Activists? A Comment on the Ethico-political in Knowledge Production What to Do? Epistemic Injustice Hope Intellectual Activism Bibliography Index