The digital life of the #migrantcaravan: Contextualizing Twitter as a spatial technology

The Central American migrant caravans of 2018 are best understood as having been precipitated by entangled multi-scalar geopolitical histories among the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Unsurprisingly, the migrants traveling north to the United States garnered widespread attention on social media. So much so that the reaction to the caravan accelerated plans to deploy troops to the US southern border and deny Central Americans the opportunity to seek asylum. This example showcases how the digital world can have exponential material effects. While coverage on border security and migration has been extensive, within political geography, such concerns have rarely been paired with social media. In this article, we take as our object of analysis the digitality or “digital life” of the migrant caravan. Mapping the patterns of migrant caravan-related tweeting paired with the exploration of Twitter’s networked dimensions reveals the platform to be a fundamentally spatial technology. Rather than reflect, refract or distort, Twitter produces and (its power) is in turn produced through spatial mechanisms. We present multiple cartographic visualizations in support of this claim and highlight the ways in which a contextual knowledge of the subject under study—the migrant caravan—can further inform analyses of Big Data.

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Bicycling, Birding and #BLM across America in a Summer of Chaos

Biodiversity Information Science and Standards ◽

10.3897/biss.4.59303 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

Author(s):

Scott Edwards

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Social Media ◽

National Level ◽

Political Stability ◽

The United States ◽

Local Communities ◽

Rural America ◽

The Pacific ◽

The Us ◽

White Violence

From 6 June to 20 August, 2020, I undertook a 76-day, ~3800 mile bicycle trip across the United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. In this talk I will share with you some of the amazing people, landscapes and birds I encountered, mostly in rural towns and along blue highways. The gradually changing birdscape, both in sight and sound, underscored the sensitive ecological gradients to which birds respond, as well as the ability of some species to thrive in agricultural monocultures. Rivers large and small regularly benchmarked my progress, as well as the western journey of Lewis & Clark over 200 years ago. The recent incidents in the US involving African Americans as targets of white violence inexorably caused me to festoon my bicycle with #BlackLivesMatter (#BLM) signs and share my experiences on social media. I encountered a variety of reactions, often positive and occasionally sharply negative, in a sea of generosity and extraordinary kindness as I wheeled my way through towns on the brink of collapse, vast private ranches and the occasional city. Rural America exhibits an abundance of loyalty and empathy for local communities, yet it is sometimes hard for Americans – myself included – to empathize with people they have never met in person. Two imperatives I took away, with ramifications for both biodiversity and political stability, were the need to somehow bring divergent communities together and to encourage empathy at the national level, among communities that otherwise experience each other only on TV.

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Central American-American Identity and Politics

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature ◽

10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.013.429 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Maritza E. Cárdenas

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Identity Politics ◽

Asian American ◽

The United States ◽

Central American ◽

Geographic Space ◽

Cultural Specificity ◽

Time Period ◽

The Us ◽

Identity Category

The use of the term “Central American” as an identity category is neither new nor restricted to the US diaspora. However, it is within the last forty years and in the geopolitical setting of the United States that a thriving identity politics has developed. It is during this time period that the use of the term Central American has emerged to denote a tactical American pan-ethnic social identity. This act of consciously employing the term “Central American” as a unification strategy for peoples from the isthmus in the United States echoes other US-based ethnoracial identity politics. Such movements often utilize a pan-ethnic term not only to advocate on the behalf of a racialized minoritarian community but also seeking to provide them a space of belonging by focusing on sociopolitical, cultural, and ethnic commonalities. As other identity markers in the United States such as “Asian American” and “African American” illustrate, Central Americans are not the first population to utilize a region as a strategic unifying term of self-identification. Yet, unlike these other US ethnoracial categories, for those who identify as “Central American” the term “Central America” often connotes not simply a geographic space but also a historical formation that advances the notion that individuals from the isthmus comprise a distinct but common culture. Another key difference from other US ethnoracial identities is that use of the term “Central American” in US cultural politics emerged during a historical era where the broader collective terms “Hispanic” or “Latino” were already in place. The creation and deployment of “Central American” is therefore an alternative to this other supra-ethnic identity category, as subjects view this isthmian-based term as being able to simultaneously create a broader collective while still invoking a type of geographic and cultural specificity that is usually associated with national identities.

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Securing Central America Against Communism: The United States and the Modernization of Surveillance in the Cold War

Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs ◽

10.2307/166225 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 41 (1) ◽

pp. 1-30 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Robert H. Holden

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Cold War ◽

Central America ◽

Formation Process ◽

The United States ◽

Central American ◽

Resolution of Acute Hydrocephalus and Migration of Neurocysticercosis Cyst with External Ventricular Drainage

Case Reports in Medicine ◽

10.1155/2010/245259 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 2010 ◽

pp. 1-3 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Abhineet Chowdhary ◽

Taylor J. Abel ◽

Patrik Gabikian ◽

Gavin W. Britz

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

The United States ◽

External Ventricular Drainage ◽

Nausea And Vomiting ◽

Ventricular Drainage ◽

Csf Flow ◽

Acute Hydrocephalus ◽

Head Ct ◽

The Us ◽

And Migration

Neurocysticercosis is endemic in the developing world, but is becoming more common in the US due to immigration. A 24-year-old man presented with acute hydrocephalus and headaches, nausea, and vomiting. Head CT revealed a 3rd ventricular cyst and immunological studies were suggestive of neurocysticercosis. EVD placement resulted in migration of the cyst interiorly and superiorly with return of normal CSF flow by MRI and resolution of symptoms. Review of this condition is important given increasing incidence in the United States.

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U.S. Migration Policy Radicalization (2017-2019): Case of Mexico and Central America

Vestnik RUDN International Relations ◽

10.22363/2313-0660-2021-21-1-108-118 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

pp. 108-118

Author(s):

Arkadiy Alekseevich Eremin

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Central America ◽

Migration Policy ◽

The United States ◽

Central American ◽

Social Basis ◽

The Usa ◽

Mexico Border ◽

And Migration ◽

Political Economic

This article is an attempt to critically analyze the policy of the 45th President of the United States Donald Trump regarding the southern border of the USA with Mexico. The paper analyzes the approach of Washington under the administration of D. Trump to the problem of the joint border between USA and Mexico, as well as conducts a comprehensive assessment of the main programs underlying the most pressing changes in D. Trumps policy in this area. In particular, the paper focuses on the structure of migration flows between 2017 and 2019, as well as on the reasons behind those changes. The author looks at the root causes of the unprecedented increase in the flow of potential migrants and refugees, and correlates them with the ongoing political, economic and humanitarian crises in the Central American sub-region. An important focus is given to the increasing role of Mexico in the settlement of this issue, as well as to the potential impact of such cooperation between the authorities of the United States and Mexico on the situation in Central America and Latin America in general. The significance of this paper is determined by the objective necessity of academic evaluation of the Donald Trumps administration impact on the United States governmental and foreign policy course. The author argues that the approach of the 45th president of the United States regarding traditionally sensitive issues like US - Mexico border control and migration has been mostly based on coercive tactics with obvious disregard towards social basis and root-causes of the issue at hand. One of the most distinguished traits of this approach is the practice of outsourcing managing the problem of refugees from Central America to the border-country, which in this specific case is Mexico.

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Regional policies will fail Central American migrants

Emerald Expert Briefings ◽

10.1108/oxan-db206709 ◽

2015 ◽

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Buffer Zone ◽

The United States ◽

Central American ◽

Content Type ◽

Regional Policies ◽

The Us ◽

Humanitarian Crises ◽

Southern Border ◽

Held Back

Subject Mexico is becoming a buffer zone for thousands of US-bound Central American migrants. Significance Since a surge of undocumented minors arrived at the US border in 2014, the United States and Mexico have developed a strategy of coordinated containment aimed at stemming migrant flows. However, within four months of President Enrique Pena Nieto's announcement of a Southern Border Programme (PFS) on July 7, 2014, detentions of undocumented Central American migrants in Mexico almost doubled, suggesting that the wave is not ebbing, but is instead being held back in Mexico. Impacts Mexico's strong record of migrant detentions and deportations is unlikely to stem the flow. The varied causes of the migration tide raise doubts about the viability of US-Mexico containment strategies. A lack of focus on multilateral migration frameworks will increase the risk of humanitarian crises.

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The roles of social media in 21st century populisms: US Presidential campaigns

Teknokultura ◽

10.5209/tekn.63098 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 1-10

Author(s):

George Julian Hendrix

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Social Media ◽

21St Century ◽

The United States ◽

Online Activity ◽

Current State ◽

The Us ◽

Presidential Campaigning ◽

The Relationship ◽

Social Networking Tools

In the United States, “populist” is a controversial and often misunderstood signifier in common discourse. In addition, the current state of mass media and introduction of social networking tools has created a hyper-partisan spectacle of politics – especially during presidential campaign seasons. Through the review of literature on populism, traditional and social media, and presidential campaigning in the United States, this article constructs a new view on the relationship between these three topics in the 21st century. Important steps in this article’s process include defining populism and its place within campaigning and media; presenting social media as a political tool and a dynamic personalized informer; and analyzing the US presidential elections since 2008. Resultantly, because the trends of online activity, on the part of both the citizen and the candidate, impact social media users’ self-informing and political engagement, the process of selecting a new US president has become more susceptible to various populist practices in this century than before.

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A DECADE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ELECTIONS – A CROSS-NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research ◽

10.5210/spir.v2019i0.10976 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2019 ◽

Author(s):

Jakob Linaa Jensen ◽

Axel Bruns ◽

Tim Graham ◽

Daniel Angus ◽

Anders Olof Larsson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Social Media ◽

The United States ◽

Time Span ◽

National Elections ◽

The Us ◽

Media Systems ◽

Cross National ◽

Election Cycles

In this panel we combine longitudinal and cross-national studies of social media in election campaigns, expanding the time span as well as number of countries compared to former studies. The four papers present longitudinal studies, covering multiple election cycles from four different countries: Australia, the United States of America, Denmark and Sweden. By including these cases we focus on countries considered to be “first movers” when it comes to the digitization and internetization of the political life. As such, they are “most similar cases”. However, they also have different political systems: the US and Australia are characterized by a Westminster system dominated by a few large parties and a tradition of strong confrontation between government and opposition, whereas Denmark and Sweden are multi-party systems with a tradition of collaboration and coalition governments. Further, the countries’ media systems, as defined by Hallin & Mancini (2004), differ significantly; the US is characterized by a commercialized American media system with little role for public service broadcasters, Denmark and Sweden have very strong public service media, and Australia has elements of both these systems. Technologically, the four countries might be similar, but politically and in terms of media systems, they differ. Thus, studies of the four countries form a diverse yet solid set of cases for exploring the growing (and changing) role of social media in national elections. The papers address such issues by various methods and perspectives, from large-scale big data analyses of tweets to content analyses of Facebook pages and surveys among citizens. From different angles, the four papers circle around the same topics: do social media contribute to narrowing or widening the often-discussed gap between citizens and politicians? Does the increasing use (and changing character) of social media in election campaigns facilitate increased trust or rather a radicalized and more negative discourse? And do citizens feel more empowered and enlightened in a democratic sense? The Australian case study is based on a comprehensive analysis of interactions around candidates’ Twitter accounts, drawing on state-of-the-art methods. It stretches across three election cycles. It presents new evidence both on the use of Twitter in political campaigning in Australia, and on the public response to this use, not at least in the light of the overall context of a decline in trust towards the political system, in Australia and elsewhere. The US case study examines negativity, incivility, and intolerance expressed by candidates running for governor in 2014 as compared with 2018. In between those two election cycles, the United States had the remarkable presidential campaign of 2016, with an unprecedented volume and style of negative campaigning unseen in modern campaigning. This study thus asks whether the 2018 candidates were more negative and uncivil than their counterparts who ran in 2014. Results will illuminate the nature of political incivility and whether there is a coarseness of political discourse in the United States. The Danish case study is based on surveys of citizens’ Internet use / social media use across four elections, covering a time span of 12 years. It adds to an understanding of the growing use of social media but more importantly it investigates how citizens experienced effects of social media as tools for agenda-setting and efficacy, the latter understood as increased reflection and enlightenment. The Swedish case study covers three Swedish national elections, in 2010, 2014 and 2018. The research question is: how are viral posts from political parties on Facebook changing over time? By answering that question, the author can track the consequences of increased platformization of politics as well as an increased targeting towards the needs and wants of the audience, through what some will call populism. The studies all cover more or less the last decade. This represents a time span during which social media have matured and have come to play an increasing role in citizens’ daily lives. The contributions are interesting country-based case studies in themselves, but through this panel we seek to engage the audience in a discussion of the developments expected for the coming years.

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Influence of Health Beliefs on Adherence to COVID-19 Preventative Practices: International, Social Media–Based Survey Study (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.23720 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Julianna C Hsing ◽

Jasmin Ma ◽

Alejandra Barrero-Castillero ◽

Shilpa G Jani ◽

Uma Palam Pulendran ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Social Media ◽

Logistic Regression ◽

Hong Kong ◽

Health Beliefs ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

The United States ◽

Perceived Severity ◽

Social Distancing ◽

United States Mexico

BACKGROUND Health behavior is influenced by culture and social context. However, there are limited data evaluating the scope of these influences on COVID-19 response. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to compare handwashing and social distancing practices in different countries and evaluate practice predictors using the health belief model (HBM). METHODS From April 11 to May 1, 2020, we conducted an online, cross-sectional survey disseminated internationally via social media. Participants were adults aged 18 years or older from four different countries: the United States, Mexico, Hong Kong (China), and Taiwan. Primary outcomes were self-reported handwashing and social distancing practices during COVID-19. Predictors included constructs of the HBM: perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, self-efficacy, and cues to action. Associations of these constructs with behavioral outcomes were assessed by multivariable logistic regression. RESULTS We analyzed a total of 71,851 participants, with 3070 from the United States, 3946 from Mexico, 1201 from Hong Kong (China), and 63,634 from Taiwan. Of these countries, respondents from the United States adhered to the most social distancing practices (χ23=2169.7, P<.001), while respondents from Taiwan performed the most handwashing (χ23=309.8, P<.001). Multivariable logistic regression analyses indicated that self-efficacy was a positive predictor for handwashing (odds ratio [OR]United States 1.58, 95% CI 1.21-2.07; ORMexico 1.5, 95% CI 1.21-1.96; ORHong Kong 2.48, 95% CI 1.80-3.44; ORTaiwan 2.30, 95% CI 2.21-2.39) and social distancing practices (ORUnited States 1.77, 95% CI 1.24-2.49; ORMexico 1.77, 95% CI 1.40-2.25; ORHong Kong 3.25, 95% CI 2.32-4.62; ORTaiwan 2.58, 95% CI 2.47-2.68) in all countries. Handwashing was positively associated with perceived susceptibility in Mexico, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, while social distancing was positively associated with perceived severity in the United States, Mexico, and Taiwan. CONCLUSIONS Social media recruitment strategies can be used to reach a large audience during a pandemic. Self-efficacy was the strongest predictor for handwashing and social distancing. Policies that address relevant health beliefs can facilitate adoption of necessary actions for preventing COVID-19. Our findings may be explained by the timing of government policies, the number of cases reported in each country, individual beliefs, and cultural context.

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Latino and Central American Asylum Seekers in the United States of America During the Trump Administration

Cuestiones Políticas - Conflictividad política, pandemia de COVID-19 y nuevos paradigmasConflictividad política, pandemia de COVID-19 y nuevos paradigmas ◽

10.46398/cuestpol.38e.27 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 38 (Especial) ◽

pp. 406-420

Author(s):

Sina Mohammadi

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Asylum Seekers ◽

The United States ◽

Central American ◽

United States Government ◽

New Approach ◽

The Us ◽

States Government ◽

Political Approach ◽

The Right

The purpose of the article was to examine the Trump administration's asylum policy applied to Central American and Latino applicants. The United States has grappled with refugee problems in recent decades, and in 2018 Trump signed an executive order to detain families seeking to immigrate to the United States without separating from one another. With this decree, a new approach was formed in the policy of the United States government, which emphasizes the severe restrictions on the entry of asylum seekers and immigrants. In the methodological, it is a documentary research close to hermeneutics. It is concluded that, although the United States government has cited security concerns as an excuse to restrict the entry of asylum seekers, especially Latinos from Central American countries, this political approach is in conflict with the national legislation of the United States that stipulates that any citizen Foreigner arriving at any point along the US border, or at official exit points, has the right to apply for asylum. Furthermore, the implementation of such a policy is contrary to the end of the 1951 Convention, which focuses on the protection of refugees without distinction.

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