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<p>This article investigates the role of neighborhood-based Facebook groups as informal infrastructures of support for mothers, with particular emphasis on immigrant mothers whose support networks are often disrupted by migration. Whereas previous research has primarily examined diasporic maternal communities organized around shared origin, this study focuses on locally embedded digital groups in which belonging is defined by motherhood and neighborhood proximity. Utilizing digital ethnography within a local Facebook group for mothers and 20 semi-structured interviews with immigrant mothers, the study analyzes how these spaces provide emotional, cognitive, and material assistance in everyday life. The findings indicate that these groups function as trusted third parties and collective memory systems, assisting mothers in navigating institutions, reducing uncertainty, comparing options, and accessing local resources. Additionally, they promote emotional validation, mutual aid, and the exchange of goods, services, and practical knowledge, while facilitating the formation of hybrid ties that link online interactions to neighborhood-based relationships. The article contends that these groups constitute local digital villages: emotional, relational, and operational communities that reconstruct support networks and promote integration through everyday urban practices of care, coordination, and decision-making.</p>

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Recomposing Support Networks in the City: Immigrant Mothers, Digital Communities and Neighborhood Integration

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月4日

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  • Andréanne Brunet-Bélanger

摘要

This article investigates the role of neighborhood-based Facebook groups as informal infrastructures of support for mothers, with particular emphasis on immigrant mothers whose support networks are often disrupted by migration. Whereas previous research has primarily examined diasporic maternal communities organized around shared origin, this study focuses on locally embedded digital groups in which belonging is defined by motherhood and neighborhood proximity. Utilizing digital ethnography within a local Facebook group for mothers and 20 semi-structured interviews with immigrant mothers, the study analyzes how these spaces provide emotional, cognitive, and material assistance in everyday life. The findings indicate that these groups function as trusted third parties and collective memory systems, assisting mothers in navigating institutions, reducing uncertainty, comparing options, and accessing local resources. Additionally, they promote emotional validation, mutual aid, and the exchange of goods, services, and practical knowledge, while facilitating the formation of hybrid ties that link online interactions to neighborhood-based relationships. The article contends that these groups constitute local digital villages: emotional, relational, and operational communities that reconstruct support networks and promote integration through everyday urban practices of care, coordination, and decision-making.