The way Syrian refugees in Turkey use media: Understanding “connected refugees” through a non-media-centric and local approach

This paper reports on an exploratory, qualitative study of media use among Syrian refugees in Turkey, focusing on two locations: a refugee camp in Sanliurfa (South-Eastern Turkey) and a community center in Istanbul. It seeks to provide new angles for conceptualizing the “connected refugee” by adopting a non-media-centric and ethnographic approach that emphasizes diversity, local contexts and everydayness. Firstly, the paper discusses the interplay between individual and collective ownership of media and ICTs, which is linked to certain power dynamics and an informal economy of solidarity. Secondly, the role of popular media (e.g., music, television series, football) for establishing ontological security in an interstitial and unstable position is discussed.