Special Issue Launch: Digital Technologies & Migration

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Special Issue Launch: Digital Technologies & Migration – Behind, Beyond & Around the Black Box

This launch event celebrates the publication of a new special issue that critically examines digital technologies in migration governance. Moving beyond the conventional framing of technologies as opaque “black boxes,” the issue proposes a conceptual framework for understanding digital tools in terms of their established relations, temporal shifts, and both immediate and hidden consequences. Guided by the principles of behind, beyond, and around the black box, the contributions collectively: (1) explore continuities and discontinuities introduced by these technologies rather than treating them as entirely novel; (2) investigate how technologies are embedded in social contexts, reshaping power relations among diverse actors; and (3) set aside normative assumptions about technological value to foreground how multiple actors engage with, resist, and repurpose these tools in everyday life.

Presenters include:

Kinan Alajak (Utrecht University),

Amanda Alancar (Erasmus University Rotterdam),

Raffaele Bazurli (ETH Zürich)

Marie Godin (University of Leicester),

Rachel Humphris (Queen Mary University of London),

Derya Ozkul (University of Warwick),

Keren Weizberg (Queen Mary University of London)

Discussants: Giorgia Donna (UEL) and Margaret Cheesman (KCL)

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Collette Bowe Room, Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London, United Kingdom