Transnational familyhood in times of imposed separation: How the US-based Iranian students use ICTs to enact relationships with their parents after the Travel Ban

Abstract

This study employs polymedia theory to analyze how Iranian students use information communication technologies (ICTs) to sustain relationships with their homeland-based parents under extended separation caused by the Travel Ban or Muslim Ban. The study draws on in-depth interviews to analyze the impact of the Ban on child-parent relationships in the context of the following three consequences of polymedia: sociality, power distribution, and emotional expression. Findings reveal that prolonged separation combined with how students and parents use ICTs shift the established cultural norms. Students use ICTs to represent their personas selectively and practice ambient concealing. The reversed asymmetry in relational power distribution grants them greater relationship control. Students also actively engage in dialogues with their parents to compensate for their absence. This study extends the existing research by examining how cultural norms influence the use of ICTs in distance relationships, and by turning attention to political factors exacerbating family separation.