Journal special issue on Connected migrants: published in Popular Communication

I am very happy and proud to announce the publication of the Popular Communication

16(1) special issue on Connected migrants, edited by Koen Leurs & Sandra

Ponzanesi

Popular Communication

Issue description:

This special issue features digital migration

research as first presented during the Connected Migrants Academy

Colloquium and Masterclasses that took place December 14–16, 2016, at

the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) in Amsterdam,

the Netherlands. Taking a cue from Dana Diminescu’s seminal manifesto on

“the connected migrant,” this special issue introduces the notions of

encapsulation and cosmopolitanism to understand digital migration

studies. The pieces here present a nonbinary, integrated notion of an

increasingly digitally mediated cosmopolitanism that accommodates

differences within but also recognizes Europe’s colonial legacy and the

fraught postcolonial present. Of special interest is an essay by the

late Zygmunt Bauman, who argues that the messy boundaries of Europe

require a renewed vision of cosmopolitan Europe, based on dialogue and

aspirations, rather than on Eurocentrism and universal values. In the

introductory article, we focus on three overarching discussions

informing this special issue: (a) an appreciation of the so-called

“refugee crisis” and the articulation of conflicting Europeanisms, (b)

an understanding of the relationships between the concepts of

cosmopolitanization and encapsulation, and (c) a recognition of the

emergence of the interdisciplinary field of digital migration studies.

Table of contents:

cohabitation in the era of diasporization and Internet (open access)

cosmopolitanization (open access)

affordances and gendered practices

sexual connections among gay migrants

Islam and the fear of terrorism

You can find the issue online here:

Young connected migrants