Digital Empowerment in Rural America: Internet-Capable Technology Use Among Somali Bantu Refugee Families in Western Pennsylvania

Abstract

This study examines how Somali Bantu refugee families living in rural Mercer County, Western Pennsylvania, use internet-capable technologies (ICTs) to empower everyday life in the rural United States. Drawing on Mäkinen’s conceptualization of digital empowerment, this study frames empowerment as a process through which refugees use ICTs to cope with challenges and gain control over daily life. Using an ethnographic case study approach, the study focuses on three multigenerational Somali Bantu families (n = 17) residing in a rural farming community between November 2025 and May 2026. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and participant observation across homes, farms, and mosque gatherings, and were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings suggest ICTs play a significant role in participants’ religious, agricultural, community, and emotional empowerment. Participants used smartphones and social media platforms for online religious communication, halal farming coordination, agricultural learning, maintaining social ties, and coping with emotional stress and isolation. ICTs also supported community belonging, transnational communication, and rural adaptation. The study contributes to community informatics scholarship by demonstrating how a refugee-background farming community appropriates everyday technologies to sustain faith, livelihood, and community in a geographically isolated rural setting. Findings aim to inform policymakers, refugee resettlement agencies, and organizations serving refugee communities about the role ICTs play in rural adaptation and empowerment in the United States.