Reticent Digital Diasporas in Times of Crisis

Abstract

Based on fieldwork amongst Burundians in Rwanda, the Netherlands and Belgium, this article explores how information circulates transnationally in times of political and violent crisis and how ordinary members of the diaspora seek to manage these flows of information. Our main argument is that conflict in the homeland creates a massive flow of information across various digital platforms and that while members of the diaspora eagerly take part in consuming and sharing this information, they do so reticently. Rather than simply explore the information flows, their intensity, their ‘spread’ or their content, we explore how individuals in the diaspora engage in emotion work, as they struggle between being ‘hailed’ by the images and messages flowing with ever-increasing intensity, speed and urgency and their reticence towards getting too involved.

Conscripting communalism: surveillance and resistance in contemporary Mauritius

“…These three examples can all be read in the context of changing digital environments, both in Mauritius and around the globe. As Mauritius hovers between democracy and autocracy, it is worth placing this research in dialogue with powerful literatures on authoritarian regimes and media control (Pype 2021a; 2021b; Turner and Berkmoes 2020; Ekdale and Tully 2020) and digital publics (Srinivasan et al . 2019), with literature expressing the potential for internet access to contribute to robust institutions and democracy (Bernal 2014; 2020; Nyabola 2018; 2021), and, of course, at times all of the above (De Bruijn 2019).…”