Techno-socio-spatial entanglements: Digital technologies,island geographies and domestic violence

Abstract

This paper draws on interview data from a longitudinal project to examine the role of digital technologies to both harm and support survivors of domestic violence living in the island communities of Washington’s Puget Sound and Salish Sea region. Using a feminist geographic analytic, we highlight two distinct manifestations of technology-enabled coercive control (TECC) that rely on mundane technologies and the unique socio-spatial norms of the island communities that were part of our study. We also detail the geography-specific challenges that emerge for survivors as they navigate support resources for TECC and the way that digital technologies have emerged as tools for engaging support and protection in island communities. The findings from this project advance a feminist relational approach to understanding the multiple entanglements between and across material/virtual space, mainland/island geographies and physical/digital violence to examine the tactics that abusers utilize and the experiences of survivors seeking support and protection. We argue that examining the techno-socio-spatial entanglements of TECC allows us to better understand the nuanced and specific ways in which abusers simultaneously use digital technologies, place-based social norms, and geography to engage in coercive control.