Paper short abstract:

In the shadows of an emerging 'planetary' digital labour market, local financial exclusion often limits refugees' access to digital livelihoods and online work. Building on research among Syrians in Lebanon, this paper scrutinizes the ostensibly 'global' digital economy through its extreme margins.

Paper long abstract:

Despite the spread of an ostensibly 'planetary' digital labour market, persistent difficulties with financial access have limited the inclusion of refugees in digital economies globally. Among Syrians in Lebanon in particular, digital skill trainings have aimed to connect this marginalized minority to online work opportunities, such as platform work and remote freelancing. However, the restrictive regime that governs their digital and financial access undermines the feasibility of transactions and payments that can be turned into cash. Partly due to US-led global sanctions against Syria and certain Lebanese groups, banks in Lebanon do not allow Syrians to open bank accounts and even where such an account exists, payments are limited to the increasingly devalued Lebanese pound and exclude US-Dollars. While mobile wallets offer an alternative in other places, this has not been very successful in the restrictive regime of Lebanon. Building on Syrians' own experiences with online work and the creative 'workarounds' and 'brokerage' social entrepreneurs and development agencies have adopted, I scrutinize the ostensibly global digital economy from the viewpoint of its extreme margins. At the heart of this inquiry stand two questions: How do local financial restrictions imposed on marginalized minorities determine the possibilities offered by digital economies and e-finance solutions? What alternative solutions have the involved actors developed and how can intermediation and brokerage increase refugees access to digital livelihoods and online work now and in the future?