Niroz Shwqi Alabs
Department of English, Faculty of Administrative and Human Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Aden – Yemen
Haifa Abdulrahman Mohammed
Department of English, Faculty of Administrative and Human Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Aden – Yemen
Yusra Abdullah Ali
Department of English, Faculty of Administrative and Human Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Aden – Yemen
Maysoon Mohammed Hael
Department of English, Faculty of Administrative and Human Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Aden – Yemen
Laila Radhwan Abdulwahed
Department of English, Faculty of Administrative and Human Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Aden – Yemen
Hatem Mohammed Al-Salami
Department of English, Faculty of Administrative and Human Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Aden – Yemen
Hanan Shwqi Saeed
Department of English, Faculty of Administrative and Human Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Aden – Yemen
Fatma Nasr Mansour
Department of English, Faculty of Administrative and Human Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Aden – Yemen
Nesreen Mohamed Ahmed
Department of English, Faculty of Administrative and Human Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Aden – Yemen
Sally Maresh Abdo Saif
Department of English, Faculty of Administrative and Human Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Aden – Yemen
Yumna Fouad Ghaleb Saleh
Department of English, Faculty of Administrative and Human Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Aden – Yemen
Afaf Ali Farea
Department of English, Faculty of Administrative and Human Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Aden – Yemen
Amal Aref Alalimi
Department of English, Faculty of Administrative and Human Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Aden – Yemen
Somia Amged Taher
Department of English, Faculty of Administrative and Human Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Aden – Yemen
Abeer Moneer Alkamali
Department of English, Faculty of Administrative and Human Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Aden – Yemen
Wala Abdulghani Saif Abdo
Department of English, Faculty of Administrative and Human Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Aden – Yemen
Enas Abdulmotaleb Al-Shmori
Department of English, Faculty of Administrative and Human Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Aden – Yemen
Zainab Khaled Al Saqaff
Department of English, Faculty of Administrative and Human Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Aden – Yemen
Fulla Mohammed Abed
Department of English, Faculty of Administrative and Human Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Aden – Yemen
Mohammed Hamoud Ghannam
Department of English, Faculty of Administrative and Human Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Aden – Yemen
Baleid Taha Shamsan
Department of English, Faculty of Administrative and Human Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Aden – Yemen
Abstract
This research paper aims to explore the portrayal of technology and the use of social media as communication tools in the migration experience in Mohsin Hamid's Exit West (2017). It questions the extent to which virtual places influence aspects of life such as mobility, identity, and sociopolitical mix at the point of the merger between virtual and physical migration. It combines media theory elements with migration studies to investigate digital network systems that empower migrants through surveillance operations. It uses qualitative text analysis to examine vital sections that show how technological developments affect character development through their experiences. Close reading of the novel led to the understanding that social media is a technology that connects, documents, and reinvents the self for migrants, but at the same time, it is a technology through which control and exclusion are exercised. The research then places the characters within different levels of the migration debate, demonstrating the novel's critical perspective on how displacement is changing in the digital era.
