Showcasing morality in the diaspora

This study highlights the ways in which female migrants’ everyday lives are represented and discussed through interaction with audiences by Indonesian female vloggers (video bloggers) who share their lives in South Korea on YouTube. This study argues that migrant vlogs illuminate the negotiation of Indonesian Muslim women’s moralities and desires between the female migrant vloggers and their (mostly Muslim) audiences, involving discussion of how to lead a pious life in a Muslim minority society, how to manage a multicultural household without losing their Indonesian identity, and how to become a good mother in the context of migration. The desire for a pious, moral yet prosperous life in the age of globalisation is at the core of such discussions. As the vloggers have created publics consisting of viewers who share similar concerns, the interaction is not limited to online morality policing. Rather, the majority of the viewers tend to affirm, embrace and sympathise with vloggers’ life choices. A positivity bias, or a predominantly positive portrayal of migrant lives through a modified and selective self-representation, is apparent in the interaction, which indicates that the migrant vlogs showcase Muslim women’s lives as acceptable to their audiences.