Older Vietnamese refugees’ transnational digital social capital and its impact on social inclusion

Abstract

In this article I focus on older Australian-Vietnamese refugees’ social capital, referring to Bourdieu’s capital approach, drawing on a narrative-biographical, ethnographic and qualitative network analytical study. To stay in touch with kin and the diaspora across distances the older refugees developed digital literacy. I term this form of capital ‘transnational digital social capital’. It is a consequence from the diasporic experience, as the loss of economic and material capital during forced displacement produced a stronger reliance on social capital. This ‘transnational digital social capital’ can be seen as resource for social inclusion (1) with relatives in the country of origin and other countries, (2) within the diaspora and (3) in the society of settlement. Furthermore, it can be conceptualised as an additional care resource. Linking the scholarship on transnational social capital with the literature on the role of digital technologies for refugees, the concept ‘transnational digital social capital’ provides new insights into digital literacy and use as a form of social and cultural capital.

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