Understanding how migrants connect is key to fostering understanding

• Author: Publications Office
• Pages: 7-8

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Understanding how

migrants connect is key to

fostering understanding

A look at how female migrant groups use digital technologies has underlined the

complexities of migration and opened new opportunities for fostering greater empathy

with migrants.

As increasing numbers of women migrate to and within Europe

– to be reunited with their families, to work, or to flee war zones

– migration is becoming feminised. The use of communication

technologies such as smartphones can play a vital role in their

lives. They enable migrants to reach across borders, overcome

language barriers and connect to new markets.

“These technologies seem able to erase boundaries between

nations, and transcend divides of race and gender,” says

CONNECTINGEUROPE (Digital Crossings in Europe: Gender,

Diaspora and Belonging) project coordinator Sandra Ponzanesi,

professor of media, gender and postcolonial studies at Utrecht

University in the Netherlands.

© Goran Jakus, Shutterstock

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