In spite of Australia’s border closure during the pandemic, the number of displaced people seeking refuge has continued to rise. For those lucky ones that are granted a visa to Australia, social inclusion and connectedness in the host country are crucial and closely linked to the indicators often used when measuring resettlement success. Yet refugee women particularly struggle with creating social connections. This thesis aims to investigate the role of social media in refugee women’s process of gaining social capital. In the context of this research, social capital refers to Bourdieu’s definition of the concept and is complemented with his notion of field. To determine the role of social media for acquiring social capital, this research is based on interviews with 11 women from refugee backgrounds in Sydney and Wollongong, NSW. Six semi-structured interviews were conducted in a one-on-one setting, while five women participated in a focus group. The results from these interviews revealed various barriers to using social media for social capital and reinforced the claim that refugee women face significant challenges when forming social connections especially with those of differing social identities. The responses revealed lack of trust, together with gender socialisation and cultural differences, to be one of the more critical obstacles to utilising social media. This research thus highlights the importance of considering the special needs and abilities of refugee women when incorporating social media in services aiming to increase their social inclusion. Where online means are deployed, further emphasis should be placed on including trusted agents to connect refugee women with the online channels. Moreover, this thesis underlines the pressing need to bridge the connection gap between refugee women and the general population in order to diminish social inequalities, which often manifest in reduced access to services, employment, wellbeing, and social exclusion.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mau-45601 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Johanna, Keskitalo |
| Publisher | Malmö universitet, Institutionen för konst, kultur och kommunikation (K3) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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