Translating the nation through the livable city: Digital intermediaries as emerging integration industries in Copenhagen

Tatiana Fogelman, Julia Christensen

Publikation: KonferencebidragKonferenceabstrakt til konferenceForskning

Abstract

Since the turn towards integrationism, research on state integration policies and private, state- subsidized providers of integration services has burgeoned. Little attention has been, however, paid to a new kind of actor that migrants draw on to make sense of the cities they settle in —namely popular, social media-based
intermediaries. Though not as numerous as state or migrant- community intermediaries, their digital, multiplatform presence allows for an extensive and abiding reach in newcomers’ navigation of the host country’s society and culture. This paper conceptualizes such unofficial intermediaries as a part of an emerging, digitally-based integration industries that are focused primarily on cities - reflecting not only migrants’ actual geographies of settlement in urban areas but also broader urbanization of identities. Focusing on Copenhagen we examine two expatriate bloggers with the strongest social media presence and conduct content and visual analysis of their posts on Instagram and their own websites. We draw on the Scandinavian-institutionalist concept of translation as a social, performative practice in order to analyze how they translate the city to the newcomers and thus contribute to its remaking in the digital realm. We focus especially on the key motifs that have over the last decade become part of the broader political and popular discourse on Copenhagen's livable urbanism.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
Publikationsdatojul. 2021
StatusUdgivet - jul. 2021
Begivenhed2021 annual conference of the International Sociological Association Research Committee 21 on Urban and Regional Development (Online): Sensing and Shaping the City - Antwerp (Online), Antwerp, Belgien
Varighed: 14 jul. 202116 jul. 2021
https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/conferences/rc21-conference-2021/

Konference

Konference2021 annual conference of the International Sociological Association Research Committee 21 on Urban and Regional Development (Online)
LokationAntwerp (Online)
Land/OmrådeBelgien
ByAntwerp
Periode14/07/202116/07/2021
Internetadresse

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