How do the Global South Diasporas Mobilize for Transnational Political Change?

Paper Title

How do the Global South Diasporas Mobilize for Transnational Political Change?

Publication Info

• Topic area: Transnational political mobilization by diasporas using digital platforms and remittance systems.
• Keywords: Diaspora, remittance boycott, transnational activism, digital platforms, Global South, political resistance, financial technologies, postcolonial computing, moral economy, collective action.

Background and Problem

• Problem / challenge: Existing research on diasporas and digital platforms primarily focuses on integration in host countries, overlooking their role as direct political actors in homeland politics. Similarly, the political dimensions of remittance flows remain underexplored in financial technology (FinTech) research.
• Significance: Understanding how diasporas leverage digital platforms and remittances for political change is crucial for addressing power asymmetries, designing inclusive financial systems, and supporting democratic movements in the Global South.
• Motivation and related work: Prior studies have examined digital activism, diasporic identity, and remittance systems separately. However, their intersection in enabling diasporic political agency remains insufficiently understood. This paper addresses this gap by analyzing the 2024 remittance boycott by non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) during a pro-democracy movement.

Solution

• Proposed approach: The study introduces the concept of diasporic superposition to theorize how diasporas exercise political and economic influence through hybrid positionalities. It examines how NRBs mobilized digital platforms and remittance systems for collective action.
• Novelty:
  1. Theorization of diasporic superposition to capture the oscillatory positionality of diasporas between privilege and vulnerability.
  2. Analysis of remittance as a political instrument embedded in moral economies of care and resistance.
  3. Expansion of HCI and FinTech research to include diasporic agency in transnational political contexts.
• Procedure and key techniques:
  • Conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 NRBs from North America, Europe, and the Middle East.
  • Applied grounded theory-inspired analysis to identify four phases of mobilization: politicization through digital visuals, transnational weak-tie building, remittance boycott execution, and navigation of surveillance and blackouts.

Results

• Concrete findings:
  • NRBs mobilized in four phases: emotional engagement through visuals, weak-tie network formation, remittance boycott execution, and adaptive responses to barriers like internet blackouts.
  • Informal financial practices (e.g., hundi, peer-to-peer systems) were improvised to sustain family support while boycotting state-linked remittance channels.
  • Digital platforms facilitated coordination but also exposed participants to surveillance risks.
• Advantage over baselines: The study highlights diasporas as active political agents, contrasting with prior research that relegates them to auxiliary roles. It also reframes remittance systems as contested sociotechnical arrangements rather than neutral financial tools.
• Experiments / evaluation:
  • Recruitment via Facebook and snowball sampling targeted NRBs familiar with the boycott.
  • Data collection included interviews conducted in Bengali or English, followed by inductive coding and thematic analysis.
• Limitations and future work:
  • Sample skewed toward highly educated, male participants in North America and Europe, with limited representation from Middle Eastern labor migrants.
  • Future research should explore scalable, secure alternatives to formal remittance systems and examine broader diasporic mobilizations.

Summary

This paper investigates how non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) mobilized for political change during the 2024 pro-democracy movement in Bangladesh by leveraging digital platforms and remittance systems. It identifies four phases of mobilization, from emotional engagement through visuals to adaptive financial practices during a remittance boycott. The study introduces diasporic superposition to theorize the hybrid positionality of diasporas and highlights the political dimensions of remittance flows. These findings expand HCI and FinTech research by emphasizing diasporas as transnational political agents and call for designing financial systems that align with moral and political commitments.