Anas Ansar is a visiting PhD fellow from the University of Bonn, Germany, who will stay at the DCM during the winter semester 2022/23. During his stay in Fribourg, Anas' research will focus on the civic engagement of the exiled Burmese Rohingyas on virtual platforms. Bringing together issues at the crossroads of forced migration, emerging technologies and the quest for identity, he aims to examine the role of various digital platforms in forming and shaping new types of diaspora mobilisation among the exiled Rohingyas. His research unpacks

to what extent digital platforms constitute spaces of digital togetherness, where diasporic experiences and Rohingya identities are constructed and mediated, as well as how such engagement shapes the socio-political movements within the exiled Rohingya communities scattered worldwide and thereby, transcend traditional/normative ethnic identities and boundaries.