STATE DIGITALIZATION AND PLATFORM WORK AMONG MIGRANTS IN BRAZIL: OPPORTUNITIES OR TRAPS?

DIGITAL TRANSNATIONALISM: THE ROLE OF REMOTE COMMUNICATION IN PRESERVING THE VALUE ORIENTATIONS OF THE SERBIAN DIASPORA

Migration theory has traditionally been grounded in the assumption of cultural rupture and linear assimilation, positing that physical distance from the homeland leads to the gradual erosion of original value orientations. The spread of digital communication technologies, however, has fundamentally transformed the phenomenological experience of migration. Focusing on the highly educated Serbian diaspora, this paper proposes the ‘Virtual Hearth’ hypothesis to explain how digital transnationalism operates as a conservative mechanism of value preservation. Through a theoretical synthesis and comparative analysis of remote communication platforms, most notably Viber, the study demonstrates that these tools generate ‘ambient co-presence’ that mitigates the hysteresis effect typically associated with displacement. By sustaining a continuous ‘transnational habitus,’ migrants maintain intersubjective bonds and everyday cultural rituals with the origin country, effectively slowing the acculturation process and reinforcing traditional values. A comparative matrix of digital behaviors among stayers in Serbia and leavers in the diaspora reveals a technological inversion: while the youth in Serbia use digital platforms for globalised modernisation, the diaspora employs them for cultural conservation and psychological validation. The paper concludes that contemporary integration policies must account for forms of ‘segmented integration,’ whereby migrants may achieve structural integration in the host society while remaining axiologically anchored to their homeland.

Performing Vulnerability at Times of Crisis: The Peruvian State and the Configuration of the Digital Cultural Entrepreneur

This article examines mitigation mechanisms implemented by Peru's Ministry of Culture during the COVID‐19 pandemic to buffer the economic effects on the cultural sector. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted between 2022 and 2023—including interviews with officials and beneficiaries and visits to craft workshops across eight regions—we examine how these policies shaped a new citizen subject: the “digital cultural entrepreneur.” We propose the concept of vulnerability as performance to theorize how access to state support is mediated through the enactment of both precarity and entrepreneurial agency. Our findings show that the very mechanisms of state support —such as online application portals, digital training mandates, and self‐management requirements—reconfigure artisanal practices by embedding digitalization and self‐management within regimes of cultural policy, reinforcing neoliberal rationalities. The study contributes to the anthropology of entrepreneurship by showing how these specific relief initiatives generate differentiated effects according to uneven digital and social capacities, exposing tensions between productivity imperatives and the structural precariousness of cultural labor in contexts of crisis.

Youth and Digital Identities: Toward an Integrated Framework for Digital Public Spaces

THE DIGITAL INTEGRATION ECOSYSTEM: EVALUATING AI AND THE METAVERSE IN OVERCOMING THE LIMINAL CRISIS OF UKRAINIAN FORCED MIGRANT WOMEN

It is proven that a child’s "digital co-presence" with peers in Ukraine acts as an intergenerational buffer, significantly reducing maternal guilt complexes and adaptation stress, and a two-level model of constructing a "New Self" is conceptualized.

Exploring the relationship between inclusion and digitalization in public participation: a qualitative study of administrators’ perceptions

Public officials play a central role in translating inclusion and digitalization into everyday participatory governance. Yet research has paid limited attention to how public officials themselves understand inclusive digital participation. Drawing on 41 semi-structured interviews with project managers involved in participatory projects in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, this qualitative study examines how public officials perceive the opportunities and limitations of digital tools for inclusive participation in the post-pandemic context. The findings show that digitalization is understood ambivalently: it can widen access, simplify communication, and support participation across constraints of time and distance, but it can also reproduce existing inequalities linked to age, digital skills, language, and access to devices. Inclusion is often framed as openness in principle, yet participants varied in the extent to which they critically recognized the structural barriers that continue to exclude some groups from meaningful participation. The analysis highlights a distinction between assumed inclusivity and critical inclusivity, showing how formally open processes may still reproduce exclusion. Overall, the study points to the importance of institutional reflexivity, hybrid participation formats, and targeted outreach if digital participation is to move from a formal aspiration to a genuinely inclusive practice.

Digital communication, the dynamics of radicalization, and legal responses to the transformation of Muslim discourse and identity: A literature review

Background: This study aims to examine how digital communication practices contribute to radicalization, how criminal policy responses address this phenomenon, and what implications this has for discourse, identity, and the psychological well-being of Muslim communities. Methods: This study is a qualitative literature review. Secondary data in the form of books, journal articles, and policy documents were systematically collected and then analyzed qualitatively-descriptively through data reduction, thematic presentation, and argumentative synthesis. Findings: Analysis shows that the radicalization process is produced by a combination of three layers, including persuasive content and framing that supports claims of authenticity; micro social networks that provide validation of networked pathways; and the technical architecture of platforms that increases exposure. Criminal responses and platform regulation are effective only when repressive measures are complemented by algorithm transparency, take-down procedures that include due process, media literacy programs, and psychosocial support services. Cross-study qualitative evidence indicates a strong relationship between technical amplification and increased discourse homogeneity that facilitates the mobilization of extreme ideas. Conclusion: Preventing digital radicalization requires an integrated approach through criminal law that focuses on recruitment and glorification of violence, transparent technical governance, and community-based communication interventions to strengthen moderate identities and psychological well-being. These policies and measures need to be assessed through the lens of maqasid al-shari’ah to ensure they are proportional and sensitive to religious values. Novelty/Originality of this article: The novelty aspect refers to the new or innovative elements in a research study that distinguish it from previous work. It includes unique contributions, new methods, or findings that have not been explored before in the field.