Digital Technologies and Migration: Behind, Beyond and Around the Black Box
Article / Journal
Author(s) / editor(s):
Derya Ozkul
,
Marie Godin
,
Rachel Humphris
Year: 2025
Abstract:
Digital technologies have often been criticised due to their tendency to operate as ‘black boxes’, owing to their complexity and opacity, which pose challenges to understanding their inner mechanisms and outputs. This article presents the conceptual framework for this special issue aimed at shifting the focus away from viewing technology as a ‘black box’. Our primary objective is to contribute to the literature on digital technology-driven migration governance by moving from descriptions of digital technology (‘explaining the black box’) towards examining their established relations, shifts over time, and immediate and hidden consequences, that is exploring the effects beyond the immediate outcomes (‘behind, beyond and around the black box’). With these three principles, we advocate for a nuanced analysis by (1) examining both the continuities and discontinuities brought about by these technologies rather than regarding them as entirely new, (2) redirecting the focus away from the technology itself towards an examination of the extent to which these technologies are integrated within social contexts, thereby (re)shaping power relations among different sets of social actors, and finally, (3) setting aside normative judgments about the intrinsic value of these technologies and foregrounding how multiple actors engage with, resist, or repurpose them in their everyday lives.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369183X.2025.2513153?src=
Post created by: Lymor Wolf Goldstein