Foregrounding digital realities at the locked down raced margins: a culture-centered case study in Aotearoa

ABSTRACT COVID-19 lockdowns compelled an increased use of information and communication technologies within the home, allowing users to remotely retrieve information and socially connect with one another. However, there was the inherent risk that lockdowns could amplify digital inequalities, especially among low-income ethnic minorities who had higher hesitancy to adopt COVID-19 interventions and poorer clinical outcomes from COVID-19 than the general population. Guided by the culture-centered approach, the present study explores experiences of information and communication technologies and information seeking during a COVID-19 lockdown among Afghan refugee women. We draw from 37 in-depth interviews with community members to show how information and communication technologies offered a means for social connection but simultaneously could (re)produce marginality and communication inequality, with some residents struggling to access information amidst the pandemic. The findings inform a discussion about the role of information and communication technologies as health resources among Afghan refugees that is situated amidst local interplays of culture and structure.