{"id":210,"date":"2022-10-25T19:57:44","date_gmt":"2022-10-25T19:57:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpmu.mau.se\/nmict22group1\/?p=210"},"modified":"2022-10-27T09:24:15","modified_gmt":"2022-10-27T09:24:15","slug":"self-representation-of-refugees-how-does-it-exist-in-todays-digital-media-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpmu.mau.se\/nmict22group1\/2022\/10\/25\/self-representation-of-refugees-how-does-it-exist-in-todays-digital-media-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-representation of refugees – How does it exist in today’s digital media world?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“I remember when we first stepped off the plane. Everything was foreign. Unfamiliar. Uninviting. Even the air in my lungs left me short of breath. We came here to find refuge. They called us refugees […]”.<\/em><\/p>(JJ Bola, 2018)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

JJ Bola<\/a> came as a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the UK when he was six years old (UNHCR, n.d.). He experienced not having citizenship, nor an ID when he came to the UK. In his early years he was thus already confronted with the question of belonging, as he describes in an interview [1]<\/a><\/sup>. From these authentic and real experiences he wrote, among others, this poem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JJ Bola is convinced that real voices \u2013 voices of people who have experienced what they talk or write about \u2013 have more power to challenge stereotypical representations of refugees as well as their stigmatization. With his poem his goal is to do exactly that. He does not want to evoke pity for refugees, but to display solidarity towards refugees, equality and humaneness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To raise awareness about this topic, he made use of social media, since in his eyes, the suggestion of new connections on social media as well as the use of hashtags to spread the message to potentially interested people, is the reason why it is easier to raise awareness online on social media than offline [2]<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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