Precarious migrants, migration regimes and digital technologies: the empowerment-control nexus

Abstract

This special issue makes an in depth analysis of the various and complex interactions between precarious (i.e. forced, vulnerable, undocumented or deported) migrants’ emancipatory practices enabled by information and communication technologies, and the constraints created by technological tools used for surveillance and migration control. It explores the empowerment-control nexus by articulating the use of digital technologies–whether by migrants themselves, by civil society actors, or by institutions–with their mediating role in the processes of empowerment, surveillance and migration control. It gathers together seven articles that draw on original empirical studies conducted across various geographical zones (European Union, Switzerland, France, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Mexico and the United States), and different disciplines (anthropology, sociology, geography, media studies, law, and deportation studies). Building on this diversity, this collection of papers embraces the richness of several theoretical lenses and reflects the varying degrees of (dis)entanglement between individual and institutional practices, at micro and macro scales, as well as local, national and supranational levels.