Migrant childhood and the ‘webdiaspora’ in Brazil

This study aims to identify the representations of migrant childhood in Brazilian digital media that belong to what we call the ‘webdiaspora’ – media outlets produced by or for migrants. We argue that these migrant and refugee children live in an ‘in-between’ condition, not physically but symbolically. They build their identities not only negotiating the stereotypes of what it is to be a child in their nation of origin and in the country they live in but also through the representations of what it is to be a migrant child. We seek to present the migrant childhood through news articles found in the digital platform Mídia de Migrantes de São Paulo (‘Migrant Media of São Paulo’), which gathers over 100 media outlets that are part of the ‘webdiaspora’ and are produced in the São Paulo state, Brazil. We found approximately 30 articles that discuss childhood, from only three websites. The article concludes that even in publications focusing on community communication, migrant children remain underrepresented.