Living in Limbo: Translation in Hong Kong Narratives of Asylum in the Digital Space

Amid increased global migration movement due to violence and crises, asylum seekers are often portrayed in the media in a depersonalised and negative way. Over the past decade, Hong Kong has seen the arrival of increased numbers of new asylum seekers from different ethnic backgrounds, fleeing violent conflicts and political persecution in Africa and the Middle East, joining the more traditional asylum seekers from East Asia. This chapter examines digital storytelling case studies written in collaboration with asylum seekers in Hong Kong, who use digitally presented podcasts and autobiographical narratives to tell their personal stories of trauma, migration and self-translation. Moreover, it shows how digital storytelling has the potential to help build asylum seekers’ capacity to narrate their own stories, reaching beyond the need for pity and help into genuine empathy and resilience.