The Mobile Social Network Ecology: Migrant Voices,Organizational Perspectives,and Unveiling Public Mobility in Qualitative Social Network Analysis

Abstract

Livelihoods are becoming increasingly defined by one’s (in)ability for and agency over movement, that is, mobility, especially on the transnational scale. Simultaneously, the relational turn of public relations scholarship has emphasized a network perspective, examining how a set of relations among social actors comprise, maintain, and/or disrupt society. Yet the development of the network perspective in public relations has not been without its limitations, notably the absence of public perspectives, actions, and realities—all of which impact the communicative interactions that produce the public’s social networks. Through a qualitative approach to social network analysis (SNA) that integrates ethnographic observations and visual network mapping alongside interviews with recent Afghan refugees and representatives from migrant-serving/advocacy organizations, this research incorporates public and organizational perspectives to highlight mobility as an increasingly important dimension to public formation and relationship dynamics. This monograph proposes the mobile social network ecology, a concept that integrates social network analysis and experiences of public mobility, to better consider mobility’s impacts on key public relationships, inclusive of distinct migrant publics, the civil society organizations (CSOs) that seek to serve them, and their linkages to civil societies on a transnational scale.