Trajectories of belonging and enduring technology: 2G phones and Syrian refugees in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Abstract

Digital migration studies has confronted its own Eurocentric tendencies and cautioned against the ‘technological fetishization’ of migrants. Like Gillespie et al.’s Mapping Refugee Media Journeys: Smart Phones and Social Media Networks, much of its literature to date investigates the use of smartphones by asylum seekers in Europe. In contrast, this article summarizes a study engaging Syrian nationals in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, tracing relationships between their movement, uses of communication devices and expressions of belonging. Leveraging an infrastructural understanding of digital literacies, it brings to light the role played by 2G rather than smart devices and infrastructures in the respondents’ maintenance of the strong ties that inform mobility. This endurance of 2G technology suggests the exclusions that can result from the use of specific devices and applications in the definition of scholarly inquiries.