The Role of Digital Technologies in Preserving Refugee Narratives The Case of Chios, Greece

Abstract

This thesis explores how digital technologies- specifically GIS mapping and digital archives- can preserve and communicate refugee experiences on Chios Island by bridging historical and contem porary migration narratives. Juxtaposing the Asia Minor refugee influx of 1922 with the arrival of Syrian refugees between 2015 and 2019, the study employs a mixed-methods approach combin ing archival research, oral history, visual analysis, and spatial storytelling. Grounded in cultural history, digital heritage, and refugee studies, it critically engages with ethical and methodological questions of representation. The research highlights how digital tools, when used with care, can re veal patterns of displacement, resilience, and memory across time, while foregrounding the politics of visibility and the importance of an ethics of remembrance.