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Social Media and Migration

Module description

A growing literature shows that new media have altered the process of migration. This module explores the relationship between social media and migration from an empirical perspective and asks to what extent studying social media can help us understand recent waves of migrations. This includes considering migrants’ identities, lifestyles, destination choices and motivations. There are no pre-requisites or co-requisites for this module, and no specialist knowledge, skills, or experience are required to take it.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to:

• Provide you with an in-depth understanding of the relationship between social media and migration and its implications in contexts of family, nationalism and identity, cosmopolitanism, refugee crises, political participation, class, gender, and conflict (but not exclusive to these contexts).
• Provide you with the ability to critically analyse existing studies, news, public perceptions, and policies in this field.
• Offer a global perspective through which you can consider both internal and external emigration from different regions and countries, including different types of migration, and different migrant communities.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate a detailed knowledge and critical understanding of the relationship between social media and migration, and relevant scholarly literature in this field
• 2. Develop an original argument in relation to existing studies and evidence in the field

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Demonstrate an ability to engage in discussion at a disciplinary level by applying knowledge from this module to other core theories and concepts in media and communications
• 4. Exercise sound judgement in researching, collecting, and interpreting information from a range of appropriate primary and secondary sources

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Conduct an independent literature search (beyond the reading list)
• 6. Apply theories and concepts in the field to assess and analyse ?real world? issues relating to migration and social media

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content of the module may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following themes: 

• Digital diasporas identities
• Political participation of diasporas in the age of social media
• Lifestyle migration and social media
• Transnational families and social media
• Online diasporas and post-conflict reconciliation

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e., a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Anderson. B. (1992). Long-distance nationalism: world capitalism and the rise of identity politics. The Werthem Lecture.
• Brinkerhoff, J. M. (2009). Digital diasporas identity and transnational engagement. Cambridge University Press.
• Georgiou, M. and Chouliaraki, L. (2022). The Digital Border: Migration, Technology, Power. NYU Press.
• Madianou, M. and Miller, D. (2012). Migration and New Media: Transnational Families and Polymedia. Routledge.
• Trandafoiu, R. (2013). Diaspora Online: Identity Politics and Romanian Migrants. Berghahn.
• Vico, S. (2025). ‘Doing Nation’ in a Digital Age: Banal Nationalism and Cosmopolitanism in Polymedia Environments. London: Routledge.

Key words search

Social media, migration, identity, diaspora, refugees, transnationalism