School of Social and Political Science

Description

A deep exploration of the opportunities and risks a global digital economy poses for refugees.

Digital Exiles opens a rare window into the world of refugees trying to survive and thrive in an increasingly digitalized and technological world of work. Often excluded from local employment and struggling to make ends meet, refugees are increasingly dependent on digital jobs and online work as a financial lifeline. Andreas Hackl offers a human-centered and global perspective to these struggles through his research into three of the most important refugee-hosting countries: Lebanon, Kenya, and Germany.

The pursuit of a digital livelihood—from attending coding schools in Berlin to training datasets for AI in crisis-stricken Lebanon to online freelancing in Kenya’s refugee camps—represents an increasingly important income opportunity for refugees. Digital work programs by aid organizations and the private sector aim to help the forcibly displaced become self-reliant and successful workers, yet, for many, it creates new forms of exclusion, precarity, and risk. Combining human stories with insights from five years of multisited research and applied work with leading organizations, the author presents an alternative vision of an inclusive world of work that can help shape the fair digital economy of the future.

You can purchase a print copy at MIT Press, or Waterstones (https://www.waterstones.com/book/digital-exiles/andreas-hackl/9780262052450), and access the free open access version here (https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262052450/digital-exiles/)

The book launch will also feature input by the guest speaker Lorraine Charles, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Na'amal, which links forcibly displaced people with remote work opportunities.

To attend, please register on Eventbrite. Digital Exiles: Digital Exiles Refugee Work in the Global Digital Economy Tickets, Wednesday, December 9  •  3 PM - 5 PM | Eventbrite 

This is a hybrid event, please register on Eventbrite to get the joining info the day before the event.