Dialogues: Digital Citizenship, Diaspora and Gender

Welcome to Surrey Sociology Dialogues - our series of research events running through the year showcasing a wide variety of areas and scholars in sociology, criminology, media and communications!

At this session, Dr Leah Williams Veazey of the University of Sydney will speak about Digital Citizenship, Diaspora and Gender: Digital Community Mothers as Unsung Diasporic Leaders in Australia

Despite widespread acknowledgement of women’s central role in (re)building community in migration, commentators have also noted the ongoing tendency of male ‘community leaders’ to dominate media and government engagement with diaspora communities. Situated at the intersection of digital sociology and migration/diaspora studies, this paper argues that women’s leadership of online community groups is an under-recognised form of diasporic leadership and represents untapped potential for diaspora engagement in multicultural Australia. Drawing primarily on interviews with 15 women who run online community groups for migrant mothers in Australia, this paper explores how their role as online community managers positions them as diasporic leaders in their local communities and in transnational online spaces. In the context of what has been referred to as women’s third (or even fourth) shift of digital labour, I interrogate the ambivalent influence that comes with these roles, exploring notions of leadership and labour, visibility and vulnerability, power and obligation, and the women’s role in both sustaining diasporic social relations and enforcing particular modes of digital citizenship. The examination of these women’s experiences facilitates a broader consideration of gender dynamics in diaspora engagement and leadership.

Speaker Biography: Leah Williams Veazey is a scholar based in the Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies in the School of Social and Political Sciences. She is the author of the book Migrant Mothers in the Digital Age (2021, Routledge) and has published widely in the areas of migration, parenthood, digital cultures, and experiences of health and healthcare. Her research uses qualitative methods, most commonly in-depth interviews, to explore contemporary social experiences, with a focus on the intersections of health, mobility and relational sociology.