Amber I Bartlett | Navigating Vulnerabilities through Digital Literacies: On the Potential and Challenges of Digitalisation for Refugee Women in the Netherlands

Amber I Bartlett | Navigating Vulnerabilities through Digital Literacies: On the Potential and Challenges of Digitalisation for Refugee Women in the Netherlands | Radboud University, Language and Communication | Promoter: Mirjam Broersma; Daily supervisor: Noemi Mena Mentes; copromoters: Koen Leurs, Lieke Verheijen | April 2024- April 2028 | amber.bartlett[at]ru.nl

My research explores the relationship between digital competencies and offline inequalities for refugee resettlement in the Netherlands, by focusing on the digital practices of refugee women. While many speak to the potential of digital platforms to foster inclusion for refugees, more critical scholarship points to the limitations, and caution that so called ‘ICT solutions’ may create new or exacerbate existing inequalities. In my research, I make use of digital literacy to conceptualize how access and use of digital affordances can reproduce inequalities while emphasizing the importance of understanding digital practices in their situational context.

I employ qualitative research methods like interviews and participant observations and draw from participatory action research. This approach allows my research to move beyond passive understandings of digitally excluded communities to capture individuals’ active use of socio-digital tactics and assemblages— the unique and personal constructions of resources that individuals use to navigate and overcome digital barriers. This research emphasises digitally excluded groups’ situated agency in reshaping digital landscapes and will contribute to innovative action-based approaches to knowledge production in the context of migration and digital communication.