This thesis investigates how the Congolese diaspora in the North of England navigates the UK’s exclusionary migration regimes and conditions of marginalisation through their engagement in both the digital and the physical participatory spaces. It investigates the means and ways that power, visibility, and algorithmic mediation shape diasporic life. There is particular attention paid to the ways individuals construct communal relations, negotiate precarity, and enact forms of resistance. Through this study, the researcher aimed to move beyond binary understandings of diasporic agency, such as resistance versus passivity, this is done by foregrounding the everyday, situated practices through which migrants “make do” within structurally constrained environments. The research develops an integrated interdisciplinary framework drawing on theories of power, resistance, and participation. It does so by employing Michel Foucault’s conceptual framework of biopower which allows for the investigation of how institutions govern life and everyday practices and also extends Achille Mbembe’s theory of necropolitics to explain how migration regimes produce conditions of social and material death. Michel de Certeau’s notion of everyday tactics is used to complement this approach, as they explain how marginalised groups navigate and subtly subvert dominant structures. Furthermore, in the digital context, the thesis critically reworks Henry Jenkins’s concept of participatory culture by linking it to Myra Georgiou’s universalism-particularism continuum framework, this allows for the reconceptualization of participation as a continuum rather than a space defined by low barriers. Within this theoretical model, the thesis introduces the concepts of liminal resistance and participatory privacy to theorise how diasporic communities negotiate visibility and control across algorithmically mediated environments. Methodologically, the thesis adopts a combined ethnographic and netnographic approach, integrating offline fieldwork in community spaces (churches and salons) with the analysis of digital interactions, particularly on WhatsApp. This multi-sited approach enables a holistic understanding of how participation unfolds across interconnected online and offline environments. The research is grounded in interviews, participant observation, and reflexive engagement, allowing for an in-depth exploration of lived experience while attending to ethical and positional considerations. The findings have revealed that the Congolese diasporic lived experience is characterised by a condition of structurally produced liminality, this being a product of the intersection of biopolitical and necropolitical forces. The group who are particularly affected by the UK’s migration regime are the women whose asylum claims have been rejected. The regime produces precarity and vulnerability, thus the lives of these women are marked by institutional marginalisation and what can be understood as “death-world” conditions. At the same time, community institutions such as churches both support and regulate individuals, demonstrating that power operates not only through the state but also within diasporic spaces. Beyond institutional contexts, the salon in this thesis has been identified as a key space of micro-resistance, where everyday practices create community and autonomy. In digital spaces, the research has demonstrated that even though social media platforms enable diasporic interactions, they also impose algorithmic constraints and commodified processes that limit visibility and shape participation. This creates what I termed a “double bind” in which users remain within echo chambers of like-minded networks, but it also limits exposure to alternative viewpoints. To resist, members of the Congolese diaspora have adopted tactics that will allow them to participate in platforms that are less algorithmically driven, most notably the use of WhatsApp. This allows for the management of participation and helps them reclaim control over their digital interactions. However, even these spaces remain influenced by broader structures of power. This thesis makes both theoretical and empirical contributions to diaspora and media studies. Conceptually, it advances the notion of liminal resistance to capture forms of agency that exist between compliance and overt opposition and introduces participatory privacy as a framework for understanding selective visibility and controlled engagement in digital environments. Additionally, it reconceptualises participatory culture as a continuum, thereby challenging dominant assumptions about access and inclusion in digital media. Empirically, the study provides a detailed account of the lived experiences of the Congolese diaspora in Northern England, highlighting the interplay between offline and online practices. Methodologically, it demonstrates the value of integrating ethnography and netnography to capture the complexity of diasporic life. Overall, the thesis offers a nuanced understanding of how power, resistance, and participation are co-constituted across multiple domains, contributing to broader debates on migration, digital media, and diasporic agency.
| Date of Award | 30 Jun 2026 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Supervisor | Nic Clear (Main Supervisor) & Matt Hills (Co-Supervisor) |
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