Ryazantsev S.V., Volkova O.A., Ostavnaya A.N. The role of the digital diaspora in overcoming the vulnerability of migrants in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic (case of Moldovan migrants). Bulletin of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia. Series: Sociology. 2022. Vol. 22. No. 3. Pp. 544-556. DOI: 10.22363 ...

Abstract

Modern information and communication technologies contribute to the formation of a quasi-institution of the transnational community of migrants as a digital diaspora. It has several functions: maintaining ties with the country of origin, ensuring transnational interaction, constructing the identity of migrants, consolidating their ethnic community and social adaptation, expressing the subjectivity of the diaspora in the public sphere, psycho-emotional support. The relevance of the study of the role of the digital diaspora in overcoming the vulnerability of migrants in the context of the pandemic is due to the need to understand the adaptation of migrants in the conditions of transformation of migration processes and the use of modern information and communication technologies by migrants. The object of the study is online groups of Moldovan migrants, which are characterized by the rapid institutionalization of diaspora organizations. The subject is the mechanisms of social adaptation of Moldovan migrants, designed to overcome their vulnerabilities and risks in a pandemic through modern information and communication technologies. The study is based on the concept of digital diaspora and a secondary analysis of the data of the Representative Office of the International Organization for Migration in Moldova on the Internet practices of Moldovan migrants (2017) and the situation of migrants in a pandemic (2020). The main research method is the analysis of the content of the largest Internet groups of Moldovan migrants in the social network. The analysis tool is a method of constructing a problem tree and a decision tree. The study showed that during the pandemic, Moldovan migrants' Internet groups became a platform for their self-organization and overcoming a number of vulnerabilities, and also performed informational, organizational, representative, mobilization and recreational functions. It is concluded that the experience of Moldovan migrants' Internet groups can be extrapolated to other migrant communities and other contexts where the political, economic and socio-cultural subjectivity of migrants is appropriate.