Digital empowerment and relationality: Perspectives from experiences of older Karen refugee background adults in Australia
Author Identifier
Loretta Baldassar: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6246-4773
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Title
Digital Empowerment for Refugee and Migrant Learners: Applying Strengths-Based Practice to Adult Education
First Page
84
Last Page
98
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
School
School of Arts and Humanities
Abstract
Access to digital tools and information is widely recognised as essential, yet is unevenly distributed. In Australia, people from refugee backgrounds are among the most active users, while older adults are amongst the least active. In this chapter, we reflect on what these contrasting experiences mean for older adults from refugee backgrounds. Do they experience digital empowerment, or exclusion from the benefits of digital tools and information? Ethnographic interviews with older Karen refugee background adults offer a nuanced perspective. Participants reported very low levels of digital and other forms of literacy. However, they also reported regularly using digital devices to communicate with across the world and access information and cultural content. Their digital empowerment was supported by the “digital brokering” performed by family members who took responsibility for purchasing, setting up and maintaining digital devices and social media accounts for older adults. Our analysis suggests that digital empowerment does not always require independent digital literacy or independent access to or use of digital technologies. For some, family, household, and community networks offer alternative pathways to the benefits of digital empowerment. This means that theories of digital empowerment must pay attention to the relational and cultural contexts in which people are embedded.
DOI
10.4324/9781003422891-8
Access Rights
subscription content
Comments
Wilding, R., Worrell, S., & Baldassar, L. (2025). Digital empowerment and relationality: Perspectives from experiences of older Karen refugee background adults in Australia. In Digital empowerment for refugee and migrant learners. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003422891-8